A Secondhand Serenade
by xXStormy-SanXx
Summary: When your engaged, and have only had hints about what your future husband is going to be like, one thing you'll never expect is for him to be a memeber of the host club! And what happens when another memeber falls in love with you? Which rose will you pick?
1. A Long Beginning

A Secondhand Serenade

I am arranged to be married. It was decided when I was one, and he was three. Our moms were, as they say, "biffles," in high school, and our dads had met on a few occasions, though they were just a friend of a friend. We've never met, ourselves, but my mom's told me a few things, mostly because I begged her, and she's a bit of a romantic. When I was five, I learned he had blonde hair. When I was seven, I learned he had brown eyes. When I was nine, I learned he was on the short side. When I was ten, I learned he liked fighting, like kendo and stuff; it wasn't really my thing, but I could respect it. I'd even taken a few classes, and I reached the ninth Kyu, which is the second level of skill. When I was twelve, I learned his first name began with M. When I was fourteen, I learned we'd be going to high school together. That was all I'd learned; my dad found out my mom was telling me things, and he forbid it. I didn't mind, I didn't know much about him, but soon enough I would. I'd had just two years left. Now, those two years are up.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

(Animal- Neon Trees)

Dad had told me I was to meet him at some kind of after school club he's in. Apparently, it was like a kind of business thing, since I was told they'd be, "staying open an extra half hour after their customers leave," so we could hang out. I was still supposed to arrive half an hour before they closed, though.

I'd been dressed in a custom made strapless blue dress that reached to right above my knees, and had a thick yellow ribbon tied around my waist, and layers of yellow tulle underneath. I'd curled my hair so that it hung in tight black ringlets that grazed my shoulders. My parent had told the maids to dress nice, so they had. I didn't really like wearing things like this, so I decided to change it up a bit; I'd added my large, square, black glasses that have a plastic bow on one corner, and I'd worn my knee-high, black, front-laced, Victorian style boots which I'd re-laced with a yellow ribbon to match.

_Let's see, music room three…_ I wandered the halls for a little while, exploring the school I would start attending the next Monday, before I found it. I opened the double doors, and then nearly gagged on the strong scent of roses.

"Welcome!" a chorus of voices greeted me. I looked in, and there were six guys, and one person who looked like a girl, but was dressed like a guy, so I wasn't going to question it.

"Hello my lady. I believe you are new here," a tall (not him) blonde said as he came up to me. He reached his hand toward my face, and I did the only thing I'd really loved learning to do; I flipped him. I think he had the breath knocked out of him because he just sat there and looked at the ceiling.

"I am _so_ sorry!" I said, looking down at him. "I don't like it when people touch my face; especially when they're strange people that I don't know." I heard a round of laughter from behind me.

"That was hysterical!" One red head (not him) said.

"She really got you boss!" said another red head (also not him) that looked exactly like the first one, but with a slightly higher and raspier voice. I put two and two together and realized they were twins.

"Um, sempai? Are you ok?" said the brunette (not him) that kinda looked like a girl. Suddenly, the blond on the floor jumped up like a spring.

"Mommy! She flipped me!" he exclaimed in a whiny voice.

"I noticed, _Daddy_," said a boy with black hair (still not him) and glasses.

"Um, excuse me? I think I'm lost. I'm looking for the, uh," I looked at what I'd written on my hand. "The host club. And I'm looking for a third year named Mitsukuni."

"That's me!" saw a hand rise from high up. There was a small boy perched on someone's shoulders. _You have _got_ to be kidding me…_

"Hey, wait a second. Are you Izumi-chan?" the boy asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"Yay! You're here!" he ran over and practically tackled me with a hug; I barely managed to stay standing, and the boots didn't help.

"Um, Honey-sempai? Who's this?" the girly-brunette asked. _Who's Honey-sempai?_

"This is Izumi-chan!" Mitsukuni answered. _Must be a nickname._ "She's my fiancé!" I swear they all blanched at the same time except for the tall one on which Mitsukuni had been previously perched on. I finally got a chance to look at all of them, and I only thought one thing:

_Damn._

I had to admit it; they are some pretty good looking dudes.

"Fiancé?!" the two twins shouted in unison.

"That's Hika-chan and Kao-chan," Mitsukuni explained, ignoring their outcries and taking my hand and leading me to each boy. "That's Haru-chan," he pointed to the girly brunette who regained his posture quick enough to smile. "That's Tama-chan," he gestured to the strange blond. "That's Kyo-chan." The guy with the glasses was now tapping away at a laptop. "And this is Takashi!" he said, letting go of my hand long enough to climb on the shoulders of the tall guy who'd he been on when I saw him.

"Well I guess it's my turn," I said, and they all turned their attention to me. "And I also guess there's some explaining to do."

"Got that right," the twins said. I just cocked an eyebrow at them, for a moment, and then continued.

"My name is Izumi Shinju, I am sixteen, I'll be a first year, and I have betrothed to Mitsukuni since I was one." _Short, sweet, and to the point_. I just stood and smiled and waited for someone to say something. Sadly, what I expected is not what was said.

"Oh my gosh you're so cute when you smile like that! Just like Haruhi!" I was suddenly enveloped in a twirling hug by the tall blond.

"Someone help!" I had to grab my glasses to keep them from flying off, and I felt like I was going to be sick. I was suddenly lifted up by a pair of strong arms, and I was looking straight into the eyes of Takashi.

"Thanks," I said smiling. "I thought I was going to be twirled to death." The blond ran over to sit in a corner.

"Mm." Takashi replied. _Not much of a talker, huh?_

"I suddenly have a feeling of déjà vu," said who I assumed to be Haruhi, by his pet-name Mitsukuni had given him. Takashi set me down and I quickly side stepped away from where 'Tama-chan' had been standing, should he recover from his mood. I suddenly felt two arms slip around my shoulders, and resisted the urge to flip whoever it was as well.

"Hi there," I heard in one ear.

"I'm Hikaru."

"I'm Kaoru."

"We're the Hitachiin Twins!" they announced together, managing to fog up my glasses with their breath.

"Do you guys ever not do that?" I asked, taking off my glasses and wiping the lenses on my dress.

"Not do what?" they asked, not yet releasing me.

"_That._ Not be all in synch. I mean, you're individuals, but you don't act like it," I said, not meaning to pry into their business, but I wanted to know. They both froze. I looked to the sides and up since they were a bit taller than me; they were looking at each other.

"What?" I asked. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry. I just-" They unfroze.

"Its fine," the one that I was pretty sure was Hikaru said.

"We don't mind," said the one with the raspier voice, which I determined to be Kaoru. I sighed in relief when they released me. I had yet to put my glasses back on; I liked them, but they were a bother to wear, especially when I didn't need to, so I hooked one end in the ribbon on my dress and just left it there. It somehow took me this long to notice the yellow marshmallow monstrosities that we were surrounded by, and a majority of them were glaring daggers at me. It was kinda scary. Most of the guys had gone back to whatever they were doing, which seemed to be sitting and talking with some of them. The only one who wasn't was 'Kyo-chan' so I walked over and took a seat next to him, resting my head in one hand, and he briefly looked up from his typing to look at me, but he didn't stop.

"So what is this anyway?" I asked, still very confused about many things.

"What is what?" he responded, not helping.

"Don't avoid the question. It doesn't make it any easier for either of us, especially me. So what is _this?"_ I repeated gesturing to everything.

"Why _this,"_ he gestured to everything with one hand like I had, still typing with the other. "Is our lovely host club." I sighed at his answer.

"Ok, I get that, but what does the host club _do?_" I elaborated on my question, and put my glasses back on.

"We make women happy," the blond suddenly joined us and answered my question. "They request us, and we do everything in our power to bring a smile to their lovely faces!"

"Sometimes, we even get to dress up!" exclaimed Mitsukuni from behind me. I swear, they just pop up from everywhere.

"Yeah," said Takashi from behind him.

"Maybe we can dress you up too," Hikaru said.

"I like what you're wearing now though, kind of a punk meets Lolita," Kaoru added.

"Thanks," I said with a smile. "I think."

"Don't worry. You get used to the madness. Kind of," said Haruhi, who walked by with a tray with tea or coffee on it. _If that doesn't instill confidence, I don't know what will,_ I thought to myself.

"Hey Izumi-chan! Wanna have some cake?" Mitsukuni offered.

"I'd love some cake," I said. I had to be polite, because if my parents found out I wasn't, they'd kill me.

"Let's go!" he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my chair and over to a table, with Takashi close behind us. "I'll be right back!" he said, running away and leaving me and Takashi alone.

"Seems like being a host is kinda hectic," I said.

"Yeah," he replied, his expression remaining impassive.

"But it seems like everyone at this school is really nice; you know, except for the girls I still feel glaring daggers at the back of my head." He just smiled, which I felt was a pretty good accomplishment.

"I'm back!" Mitsukuni announced upon his return, cakes in hand. "I have strawberry, chocolate, and lime! Which do you want, Izumi-chan?" I thought for a moment.

"Lime please," I answered, and was handed a slice. It tasted just like key-lime pie, which was my favorite. "This is really good."

"Of course it's good! Cake is always good, silly!" Mitsukuni responded. _Must really like cake._

"So I hear you like kendo," I said, hoping to get him talking, so I wouldn't have to.

"Yeah! Me and my whole family do! Takashi's really good too!" he said earning a smile from the taller man. "What about you?" he asked me.

"Well, I took a few classes when I was ten, and I got to the ninth Kyu, but that's kinda my limit of skill. It wasn't exactly my forte, if you know what I mean."

"Well you seemed pretty good when you flipped Tama-chan," he commented, which made me laugh.

"Thanks. I feel still kinda bad about that, but he still shouldn't go around just touching peoples' faces like he knows them. It might be just me who thinks that's kinda odd, but it's still kinda weird."

"Yeah, Tama-chan's pretty friendly with people, but he doesn't mean any harm," the small boy said around bites of cake. "Hey, I gotta idea! Tomorrow, we're all going to one of Kyo-chan's family's facilities, you should come with us, Izumi-chan!"

"It's fine with me, but you'll have to ask him," I said, pointing at 'Kyo-chan.' "I don't want to just invite myself."

"I don't see why not," I heard him comment. "The more the merrier, right?"

"Yay!"

"Just make sure to bring a swimsuit," Kyoya commented, _still_ clicking away at his computer. _What is he even doing?_

We hung out and talked about everything and nothing until it was time for me to leave.

"Well I guess I'll be seeing you boys tomorrow," I said as I was leaving.

"We'll be there to pick you up at seven," said Kyoya. I'd finally learned what his actual name was when Haruhi asked him about what exactly was going on tomorrow, since she wasn't there when I was invited. He had said nothing, not letting her in on it.

"Bye boys," I left and closed the door behind me. _That was exhausting._ Mitsukuni wasn't at all what I'd thought he'd be; when my mom said he was shorter, I thought she meant he'd be around my height, not that I'd have more than a head on him. And when she said he liked fighting, I wasn't expecting someone so… cutesy. He seemed really nice though, and I began to walk down the hall.

"Well what do we have here?" I turned and noticed a few guys leaning against a wall behind me, a little past the music room door. "A stray kitten that doesn't belong here," one of them said.

I turned away and kept walking. _Shit, shit, shit, fuck…_ I just put in my earphones to my IPod and began playing _This is Halloween_ by Marilyn Manson on full blast, which oddly helped me relax. I thought I heard one of them shout something, but I kept walking. I felt my earphones ripped out of my ears, and they also got pulled out of my IPod, and a big hand grabbed my arm.

_ "Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?"_

"That's some scary music you got there. You like scary things? I can be scary," said the biggest of the guys. I may have had some kendo skills, but this guy towered over me, so it wouldn't have even mattered, because there was no way I'd be able to flip him, even if he let me. His lackey's became a half circle around us as he pinned both my arms against the wall behind me, and I could feel myself shaking. I did what every girl would do; I let out my highest, loudest, girl-scream possible. I quickly closed my mouth hard as he leaned in and tried to kiss me, but curled my lips in, and kept turning my head so he wouldn't have a still target. He stopped for a minute, and I screamed again, but he just hit me across the face, but a second before he did that, I heard a door slam against a wall. Everything was silent for a minute after he hit me. I could taste bitterness in my mouth, and I spat on him, noticing it was tinged pink. I smiled, looking up at him and tilting my head to the side.

"You shouldn't've done that," I warned him. I saw the flash of blond I'd expected, and a larger flash of black, and then he and half his lackey's were on the ground, and Mitsukuni was on top of him. I slid on my back down to the floor as my knees gave out. Sadly, the adrenalin had only lasted about five seconds after the door slammed open, so I began shaking again. I could barely focus on what was going on, partially because now I could feel the throbbing in my jaw, and because I was having a less extreme version of a panic attack.

I felt two pairs of hands begin to lift me up from each side, but I waved them off, and they let go. I got up so that I was resting on the balls of my feet, and then slowly began to stand up, before almost falling, but I felt the hands on my shoulders and arms again before I totally face planted. I accepted the twins' help this time, as they put my arms around their shoulders to help me walk back towards the music room and to a couch. I had kept my eyes closed once I collapsed, but I opened them when I sat down. The twins were next to me, probably to make sure I didn't fall over or something and I didn't think I would, but I was feeling really tired all of a sudden.

"Open," I heard Kyoya say. I looked up to see him kneeling on the ground in front of me. "Open," he repeated, gesturing to my mouth, and I obeyed. He held my jaw open and looked around, probably looking for cracked teeth. "Does it feel broken at all?"

"Uh-Uhn," I responded. It hurt like _fuck,_ but didn't feel broken. He looked around a moment longer, and let me go, and I leaned back against the couch.

"Hey, you ok?" I heard Haruhi ask. "I can make you some tea or coffee if you like."

"No, it's fine. I-" I was cut off by Mitsukuni.

"Izumi-chan!" he ran towards me. "Izumi-chan! Are you ok? They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?" he asked, as he jumped up on my lap and hugged me.

"I'm fine. It's no big deal," I responded, hoping to calm him down. "I'm just, really, really," I felt myself tip over a little and leaned my head on one of the twins' (I'm pretty sure Kaoru's) shoulder. "_Really_, tired..." and I passed out.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I opened my eyes, and I was staring at a plain white wall. I sat up, and found I had been covered with a pink blanket, and next to me was a small stuffed pink bunny I recognized after a minute as Mitsukuni's Usa-chan. I was on a couch (a very comfy one) in what kind of looked like a small office, but it wasn't Ouran Academy's office, because I'd been in there when my mom took me there to register me. I gasped at the pain when I began to feel the throbbing in my cheek. I remembered what had happened; the big scary guys, screaming, being pinned against the wall, Mitsukuni and Takashi saving me, and falling asleep on Kaoru's shoulder.

_ I still don't know where I am though._

I got up, leaving the blanket and bunny behind, as I walked out of the room; someone must have taken my shoes off, because I noticed they were sitting next to the door. I walked down a hallway, and found a door leading to a small breezeway. I quietly opened the sliding door and saw Takashi standing outside in some baggy, dark blue pants and a loose fitting white shirt. I was about to say something, but I noticed he was holding a sword, and seemed to be doing something. I saw he was surrounded by numerous figures that seemed to be made of straw all tied together. One moment he was standing there, the next, he lashed out with the sword, and then, he was still, as the top half of each straw figure fell off, one by one. My eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Wow, that was really cool," I said, and he whipped his head around, and finally noticed me standing in the doorway.

"Thanks," he said simply. "I see you're feeling better."

"Yeah. My jaw's still throbbing, but there isn't much that can be done about that. And now that I found you, where am I exactly?" I asked.

"My house. Mitsukuni's here too." I nodded. This is the most I've heard him talk all day.

"This is a pretty cool place you have out here," I said gesturing to the courtyard he had set up. There stone path way leading from the breezeway to the circle where Takashi had the straw figures set up. It was surrounded by some large trees and shrubs, making it feel like you were in your own little world. He just grunted in response this time.

"Izumi-chan!" I turned around to see Mitsukuni burst through the still open door. "There you are. When I came to check on you, you weren't there, and I wasn't sure where you'd gotten off to. But I found ya now!" he exclaimed with a smile. I looked up at the sky; it looked like it was almost sunset.

"Um, what time is it?" I asked kinda nervously.

"About six, I think," Mitsukuni answered.

"Crap," I mumbled to myself. "Do you guys have a skateboard, by chance?"

"I think so," Mitsukuni answered. "Don't you have an old long-board in your garage, Takashi?" He nodded.

"Even better. Could I borrow it? I'll give it back tomorrow," Takashi nodded. He began to walk past me and I followed him until we reach a small garage that looked more like a storage room. I knew he was loaded, so his parents must have their actual garage in a different part of the building. He walked around a few boxes and then came back with an old long-board that seemed to have been gathering dust, and pressed the button to open the garage door.

"Can you really ride a skateboard, Izumi-chan?" Mitsukuni asked.

"Yeah. My cousin Keiichi taught me how," I said, then jumped on the board and tested how it felt under me. I was glad had it broken in rubber wheels, if they were plastic or new, I would've been screwed. "Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning. See ya!" I pushed off and began riding down the long drive way. I slowed down at the sidewalk to look around and try to get my bearings. I had a pretty good idea of where I was; I was about five blocks from my house. I turned to the right and pushed off, glad that I didn't have to run, and took the next right. I knew my parents wouldn't exactly approve of the skateboard riding, but it was better than walking all the way home.

Since it had been decided that I was betrothed, I had been groomed and polished to be perfect. To say it kindly, I hated it. I didn't mind it, but I never got to do a lot of fun stuff. I remember for my thirteenth birthday, we'd just invited my, "friends," and family over, and all had a fancy dinner, and basically had a really lame adult party. I'd even been taking ballet classes since I was five so I would be poised and in shape; I didn't mind the ballet, it was fun, but I didn't like being forced into it. Pretty, proper, and poised; that was all that mattered.

I reached home in about five minutes, versus the fifteen it would have taken to walk. I quickly stashed the board under the porch, and ran inside.

"Izumi? Is that you?" I heard my mother call. "Where have you been? We expected you to be later than usual with meeting Mitsukuni and all, but this is simply ridiculous."

"Sorry mom. I was going to be home on time, but things got a little complicated, and I ended up having to go to his friend Takashi's house with him, and we just lost track of time," I lied and covered. My mother grinned like a fox.

"Hmm. I didn't expect it to go so well," she just grinned and began to walk away.

"No! Mom! That's- that's _not_ what I meant!"

"Well whatever you _meant,_ it seems to be going well none the less. Kikuchi has dinner for you in the kitchen." I headed toward the kitchen; I was starving.

"Hey Taro," I was the only one in my family who called him by his first name; he'd been working with us since I was ten, and was in his late-twenties.

"Hey, you're late. Like, super late," he commented, as he handed me dinner. "Miso salmon with sake butter."

"I don't even want to talk about it," I said, taking a bite. It was really good, which is why it's one of my favorite dishes. I liked talking to Taro, I could feel more normal, but I wasn't exactly going to try to explain what happened. He really was probably my only real friend before today. All the prissy little bitches my parents told me to be friends were crazy.

"I can respect that," he said, as he began cleaning up immediately after serving me. See, Taro has OCD, so being a servant is perfect for him. He does a little bit of everything around the house, he helps cook, he cleans (a lot), and he runs errands for my parents when they need him to. "Oh, and Keiichi called. He wanted to know how it went." I sighed. _Of course he does…_

After eating, I ran up to my currently black and blue room and hopped on my bed, grabbed my personal land line phone, and dialed Keiichi. He picked up on the second ring.

"Yellow?"

"Hey."

"Hey! So, how'd it go with," he paused and let out a half snort, half laugh. "_Little_ ol' Mitsukuni?"

"Cheap shot."

"Still a shot worth taking," he said simply.

"Fine. Douche."

"That's cold. Fine then. Maybe I won't talk to you anymore."

"Good," I said, and hung up and waited. It took forty-seven seconds this time.

"I thought you weren't talking to me?"

"I never said for how long," he said, digging himself out of the pit he'd jumped in. "I figure Taro already informed you of what I want."

"Yep. I think it went well. He was really nice. The rest of the guys in his club were nice, too." _To look at._

"Cool. What took you so long to call?"

"Special set of circumstances."

"Don't avoid the question. It doesn't make it any easier for either of us, especially me," he said, just like I had earlier to Kyoya. I guess you could say we're kinda like the twins except, you know, we don't have homosexual tendencies.

"Well, there was this really big guy-"

"Did you flip 'im?"

"No. Couldn't if I tried; too big and heavy. _Any_how, there was this really big guy in the hallway as I was leaving, and he tried to flirt with me, I screamed, they got there asses kicked, but not before I got punched-"

"Holy snap!" he said, and I snapped. "Where?!"

"Jaw,"

"Ow! Jeez, I hope they got there asses kicked _hard!"_

"I'm pretty sure they did. Anyway, continuing: I got punched, passed out on a twin-"

"Excuse me? Did I just hear you right? Passed out on a twin? That's gotta be an interesting story."

"Please; I passed out and he was right next to me. Mitsukuni and his cousin Takashi took me to their house, since I couldn't just stay there at the school, so I slept there for a while, borrowed a long board, and rode home. End of story."

"Sounds intense," he kidded.

"Totally. I'm gonna go now. I'm mentally and physically exhausted. Bye!"

"See ya!" he said, before hanging up. I set my phone down, set my alarm for six, and laid on my bed and fell straight to sleep.


	2. Bad Timing

I didn't wake up to my alarm clock; instead I woke up to people jumping on my bed.

"Come on Izumi!" Kaoru said.

"Time to go!" Hikaru _helpfully_ added. I glared at both of them, then I realized why they were here; I jumped up, standing on my bed.

"Oh my god! What happened to my alarm clock? Shit! Shit! _Fuck! Shit!"_

"Mommy! Izumi has a potty mouth!" Tamaki exclaimed.

"Well that's too _damn_ bad isn't it?" I further taunted him.

_ "Mommy!"_

"Out! I would actually like to get dressed without being visually groped," I said, shoving them out the door. I quickly pulled on my neon green and pink splattered bikini and a blue hoodie and yellow basket ball shorts, and grabbed a towel and pink flip-flops and walked out.

_ "That's_ what you're wearing?" Kaoru asked.

"You're almost as bad as Haruhi," Hikaru said, and promptly had a hand slapped over his mouth.

"Well if you want me to take it off…" I bluffed, beginning to pull up my hoodie.

"No! You closet perverts! What's wrong with you?!" Tamaki shouted, grabbing my hands and stopping them while glaring at the twins, as Kyoya just stood there, not having said anything the whole time.

"Where's Mitsukuni, Takashi, and Haruhi?" I asked.

"We have yet to pick them up," Kyoya informed me. "We will get Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai next, then Haruhi."

We climbed into the car and I was seated next to Kaoru and some empty seats. It didn't take long to get to Takashi's house, where Mitsukuni was waiting, half-asleep on his shoulders, as well. _Lucky… _Takashi climbed in and set Mitsukuni down next to me, and himself next to him.

Next, we drove about a block down from Haruhi's apartment complex, and I sat, confused, as Tamaki climbed up next to the driver and watched with binoculars. After about ten minutes, of waiting, I was about to ask what we were even doing.

"Go, go, go!" he shouted.

"Yes, sir!" The twins exclaimed, jumping out of the car. They ran over to where I saw Haruhi, picked him up, and ran back to the car.

"What the hell guys?! What's going on?" he shouted.

"I was about to ask the same thing," I said, and he smiled at me.

"You'll see in good time," Kyoya said.

"Well that was vague," Haruhi and I said at the same time. I gasped.

"Oh… my… god…"

"What?" Haruhi asked, looking concerned, while climbing into the limo behind the twins.

"Haruhi, I think we're turning into," I shuddered. "_Them." _I gestured to the twins next to me. Haruhi began laughing and so did I, while the twins just stuck their tongues out at me.

"Hey Haruhi, since there are no empty seats left, how about you sit in daddy's lap?" he offered, and simultaneously lost me. I could see Haruhi blanch at the idea, so I saved him.

"We can squeeze," I suggested, gently moving the sleeping Mitsukuni closer to Takashi, and I scooter closer to Kaoru, the patted the now available space next me.

"Thanks," he whispered as he sat down.

"No problem," I whispered back.

_Hikaru and Kaoru…_

He could feel the light blush coat his cheeks as Izumi moved closer; her arms were in her lap, so her side as now pressed against his arm. He didn't think Hikaru noticed, but he wasn't sure.

She looked really cute today; he knew he'd said otherwise, she really did. Her hair was still wavy from sleeping in the curls, and even with the bruise on her jaw, she was practically glowing. He hated looking at her bruise though, he felt guilty even though it wasn't his fault. He wanted to do everything he could to show her a good time, weather she was betrothed or not.

It didn't take long to arrive at the large dome-like building. Honey-sempai had woken up by then, and was excited as everyone else.

"Wow, this is really cool! Thanks for letting me tag along," Izumi said when they entered.

"You're welcome. It was no big deal, really; the host club was invited for a special preview of the facility before it opened to the public," Kyoya explained. They wandered over to when looked just like a tropical beach where some lounge chairs and tables were set up.

"Are those water slides over there?!" Izumi exclaimed. "Someone needs to come with me!"

"Why do you need someone to come with you?" Haruhi asked.

"Because I'm a girl and what if I drown? Or get hurt? Then what happens? What happens is I will die and it will be on your conscience for making me go alone," she exaggerated all in one breath.

"We'll come," Hikaru and Kaoru offered.

"We love water slides," Hikaru added.

"Yes! Come on! Let's go!" she grabbed both their hands and dragged them behind her. Kaoru could again feel a faint crimson blush color his cheeks at her touch. As they ran around the pool and were almost to the base of the stairs, she let them go and finally slowed down. She quickly took off the baggy shirt and then guy shorts, revealing a well filled out green bikini with pink paint splatters. They were both staring.

"What? This is what swimsuits are for; getting wet. Man, it's like you guys have never seem a girl before. Now are you gonna take your shirts off and follow me, or do I have to do it myself?" she joked, beginning to climb the stairs and the twins quickly undressed to keep up with her. When they all reached the top, they had to stop to catch their breath.

"Which one do you guys think is the scariest?" she asked, looking over the railing at the different slides.

"That one," they both pointed to a yellow tube slide that spiraled a few times, the dropped almost straight down.

"Then let's go on that one!" she ran over to where a pile of inner-tubes were set and grabbed a three-seater. "Ok, you guys climb in, I'll hold it," she said, as they sat down, while she held the tube from moving. "Ok, one, t- go!" she jumped in and pushed off. They all started shouting at the same time.

"Whooooooo!"

"Oh my god! I can see the drop! Hold hands!" Izumi shouted. Kaoru began blushing as she squeezed his hand, but everyone was too busy screaming to notice. They were greeted at the bottom with a huge splash.

"Oh my gosh! That was insane!" Izumi shouted. "I'll be right back," she said, before letting go of their hands and slipping off the tube backwards into the pool. She sank under for a moment, the popped back up.

"Hey guys! Guess what?"

"What?" they asked together, only semi-interested.

"This!" she quickly lifted up her edge of the tube, tipping them into the water. They looked at each other under water while under the tube, but Izumi couldn't see that. They both swam underwater up on either side of her, then jumped up and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her under. She pushed them both away, and quickly swam up, grabbing the inner tube to catch her breath. They both bobbed up next to her and did the same.

"Hey guys, I think I'm ready for a break."

"Yeah," Kaoru said.

"We can go see what Haruhi and the others are doing," Hikaru added. They all climbed out of the pool, grabbed their cloths, and began heading towards the others.

"Guys, I think I look like the Grudge," Izumi said; her black hair had been pulled straight by the water weight, and it was hanging dripping wet in her face.

"Yeah, you do!" Kaoru said, laughing.

"'Not you don't, Izumi!'" she began imitating him. "'You could never look that creepy! You always look great!' Oh thanks Kaoru! You're awesome! Geez, you know how to make a girl feel special," she said, gently elbowing his arm, as Hikaru carefully watched from next to them.

_Izumi…_

I liked the twins; when I first met them, I thought they were kinda creepy, but they're really not that bad. It seemed like they really liked Haruhi, too; when they weren't entrancing girls, they tended to be either doting on him, or harassing Tamaki. Or both at the same time. It was entertaining, really, but it seemed like it'd be pretty hectic to deal with on a daily basis.

When we got back, Mitsukuni was sitting on Takashi's back while he was swimming in the current pool, and everyone else was just lounging around.

"Come on guys! Is this all you're going to do? This is practically a water park! And all you're doing is sitting about! I mean, I know this is my first time at one and all, so I'm really excited, but seriously!"

"This is your first time at a water park?" Haruhi asked. "But aren't you as rich as the rest of these guys?"

"'It isn't proper for a lady to be doing such childish things!'" I said, imitating my mother's British accent. "Or that's what my mom says. She says I have to follow the five P's: Pretty, precise, proper, poised, practical. Sadly, water parks, or anything fun really, doesn't fall into that category."

"Sounds pretty strict," Haruhi said.

"She is, unless things are going how she wants them to. She was downright giddy yesterday after what she thought was going on when I got home late."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that," Haruhi said, and we both looked over at Mitsukuni at the same time. "I can't imagine what it'd be like to have your future decided for you."

"It's not that bad I guess. I mean, at least my parents didn't spring it on me; I've known since I was little and it's what I've spent my life preparing for. I don't think I could have prepared myself for the surprise; when I was told he was kind of short and liked fighting, I still don't think I could have come to the conclusion of that," I said, gesturing to him.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Try meeting the host club on accident; then you'll be in for a surprise," Haruhi said, a smile on his face.

"How did you meet them anyway? You don't really seem like the kind of guy who'd be into something like this," I asked, genuinely curious.

"Debt," he answered simply, a frown on his face. "A lot of it."

"Kyoya?"

"Yep," he answered.

"Why do you automatically assume me?" Kyoya asked from his lounge chair.

"Tamaki may be president, but I could never imagine him dealing with something as technical as funds. You two complement each other, really; it's like, he has the theatrical aspect, and you have the methodological aspect; you balance each other, you're each other's counterpart. It's paradoxical, really, if you think about it." Tamaki seemed lost at 'methodological.'

"That's an interesting notion," Kyoya commented, a glare over his glasses.

"Is it an accurate notion?"

"I believe it is." I just smiled, glad to be right, and walked over to one of the chairs to sit down. I had just finally began to feel completely relaxed when I was sprayed with a jet of cold water. I squealed and jumped up to see that Haruhi was wet as well, and the twins with squirt guns, laughing.

"What the hell guys?!" Haruhi yelled at them.

"We just wanted to have fun," Hikaru said.

"Yeah, don't be a party pooper Haruhi," Kaoru said. As they were talking, I was slowly inching closer; I had an idea. When Kaoru finished talking, it seemed like they were going to say something at the same time, but I grabbed Hikaru's water gun and began spraying them both before they could say anything. In their surprise, Kaoru dropped his, which I also grabbed, then tossed to Haruhi.

"Payback time!" I shouted, and we both began shooting them with water.

"Hey! That's cold!" one of them shouted.

"Oh really? I didn't notice, because it's not like you _sprayed me or anything!"_ I shouted back.

"You doppelgangers! Stop harassing my daughters!" _I didn't realize I was a… wait, what?_

"We weren't harassing them," Hikaru said.

"Yeah, they sprayed us too," Kaoru said.

"Wait, wait, wait, _and wait._ I am lost. I don't get the 'daughter,' comment, and I also don't get the whole, 'mommy,' thing from this morning, but that's not what's confusing me. You said daught_ers_. As in _plural;_ like _more than one_. Like, _two_ perhaps?" I suggested, and they all blanched except for Haruhi.

"Might as well tell her; doesn't matter to me," Haruhi said, still holding the water gun.

"Let me guess, Haruhi is a little more _feminine_ than _he_ seems, huh?" I said, and they all just stared at me. "It wasn't all that difficult to figure out; it was mostly the way you carried yourself- most guys just wouldn't act like you do. Now where was I?" I quickly turned and began firing, catching Kaoru in the face. I had to stop thought because ran out of water.

"I'm glad you're taking it so well. You should've seen Tamaki-sempai when he found out," Haruhi said, who had gone back to sitting and relaxing instead of joining me for further torturing the twins.

"I imagine that would have been entertaining," I said, just thinking about how dramatic he was. "So does this have anything to do with that debt of yours?"

"It has _everything_ to do with it," she said.

"I won't ask," I said. "You're lucky though, you don't have to wear that sunshine-yellow, marshmallow-shaped, monstrosity." She didn't get a chance to answer, but cause I was too busy laughing at seeing Tamaki get shot is the face with one of the water-guns Haruhi and I had abandoned.

"I gotcha!" Hikaru said, grinning.

"Come on boss, let's go! Let's have a water gun fight," Kaoru suggested.

"It'll be me and Kaoru against you; if you get it in the face, you lose. What d'ya say?"

"Forget it," Tamaki said, wiping off his face with a towel. "Why would I subject myself to a childish game like that?" the twins grinned, and I felt an arm slip around my shoulders, and I saw Hikaru do the same with Haruhi.

"Ladies, I think it's time we got married," Kaoru suggested, I knew it was to piss off Tamaki, so I smiled.

"We should totally honeymoon in Switzerland," I joked, and they both smiled bigger. I could see Tamaki beginning to pump a water gun.

"Do you think I'd actually let them marry you guys? Daddy says no!" he said, glaring daggers at the, while pointing his water gun. They started chasing after each other, running all around the pool area.

"They never slow down, do they?" I asked, and Haruhi sighed.

"I wish," she responded, sipping her drink.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Tamaki yelled at the twins. I looked over in time to see him trip, and face plant into a totem pole-like thing. I covered my mouth to try to stop the half-snort, half laugh from escaping; it didn't work.

"Does that count as getting it in the face?!" I shouted over to them, earning matching smiles and thumbs up. Then, the totem pole began to light up, it began glowing red. Then I could feel a rumbling in the ground, as I stood up, and I huge wave began to sweep through the current pool. _Wait, I think I saw Takashi get out, but what about-_ I looked over and saw Mitsukuni get tossed by the wave, sending his inner tube flying, and washing him away.

"Honey-sempai!" Haruhi shouted.

"Mitsukuni!" Takashi yelled, running toward him, but he tripped and fell pretty hard.

"Gentlemen! We are going after Honey-sempai!" Tamaki exclaimed. "That pool looks like the quickest way! Charge!" we all ran in the direction he was pointing except for Kyoya.

"Wait, I wouldn't go-" he began to warn us, but was cut off by screams of terror (mostly mine).

"There are alligators in there!" the twins shouted, as we ran back.

"Why the hell do you have alligators in a theme park?!"

"Ok then, if we can't use that pool, let's try this way!" I didn't even bother this time, because unlike Tamaki, I'd already noticed _the giant alligator sitting right there!_

"Those alligators belong to the parks tropical animal exhibit," Kyoya explained. "I guess it is kind of dangerous to let them run wild, though the cause of our present situation seems to be the location of the switch for the current pool. I'll have to have a little chat with our designers. Thanks a lot you guys, I got some great data today!" he said, smiling his host smile.

"You're welcome!" I said sarcastically, still catching my breath.

"This is a map of the Tropical Aqua Garden, and this is our current location," Kyoya said, ignoring my comment and pointing to a map. "We need to get here, I believe this is where Honey-sempai probably ended up. It might be tough, because to get there we'll have to make it through this jungle area here, in the Southern block. Distance wise, we're talking about eight hundred meters."

We began walking through the trees, I looked up through the canopy, and I could see some of the birds gliding by. _I really wish I had my camera…_

"Hey Izumi, come on!" Hikaru grabbed my attention away from the trees.

"You don't want to get left behind, do you?" Kaoru said, gesturing for me to hurry up.

"Coming, sorry I began spacing."

"About anything in particular?" Kaoru asked.

"Wishing I had my camera; it's really pretty and you could see the birds through the canopy," I explained.

"I didn't know you liked photography," Kaoru said.

"It's more of a hobby. It's one of the few things my mom doesn't mind me doing. I can't imagine what she'd do if she knew I long boarded; or that I was _here_ for that matter."

"What's long boarding?" Hikaru asked.

"Wait, where does she think you are?"

"Long boarding is basically skateboarding, but with a different style board; I could teach you guys sometime. And she thinks we're all hanging out at Mitsukuni's house; if I told her we were here, she kinda freak out."

"Cool," they said.

"Wow, this place is just like a real jungle, huh?" Tamaki said.

"Yeah, and I keep hearing all of these really strange animal calls," Haruhi added.

"You don't think all those animal sounds-"

"-could belong to the real thing, do you?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. But I know my family always strives for authenticity, whatever the cost," Kyoya said, which wasn't very reassuring. We kept walking for a while, before heard a thud behind me. I turned around to see Takashi on his back, looking like he tripped and fell. _He must really be worried about Mitsukuni…_

"Mori-sempai is-"

"-acting as clumsy as you do boss."

"Shut up!" Tamaki told them. Takashi sat up, and I offered my hand to him. He looked up, gave me a small forced-looking smile, and took my hand and got up. _Poor guy…_ then I looked around and noticed everything looked different.

"Um, why does everything look darker?" I asked.

"Uh oh, it's about time for the squall," Kyoya informed us.

"Huh?" the twins said. Just then, I felt a drop on my head; and then another, and another. Then it began full on pouring. We all ran to an open, hut-like structure. I pulled on my hoodie, glad that I had grabbed it, even though it made me look like I wasn't wearing anything underneath, because the rain was really cold.

"Hey Mori-sempai, you seem to be really close with Honey-sempai. Are the two of you like, childhood friends?" Haruhi asked, once we'd all gotten under, and I was sitting next to her.

"You mean you don't know-" Hikaru and I said at the same time, then paused, before Kaoru finished (he seemed to always be the one finishing).

"-that they're cousins?"

"You're kidding me? They're related?"

"The Morinozuka's have been serving the Honinozuka family for generations," Kyoya explained for us.

"However two generations ago the families became relatives by marriage and the master/servant relationship soon became a thing of the past," Hikaru elaborated.

"But even so, Mori-sempai has always made a point to accompany Honey-sempai," Kaoru finished.

"It must really get his blood going," Tamaki added. "The blood of a loyal servant flows like a mighty river through Mori-sempai." The twins began sniffling and saying what a touching story it was. I agreed, but I think they were being a little overly dramatic.

"Kyoya, you said you were collecting data right? Tell them to make the rain less cold. I practically froze my fingers off," I told him. I was suddenly a few inches off the ground and engulfed in hugs from every side, and I had feeling I knew who it was.

"My poor second daughter is cold! Don't worry! Daddy will keep you warm!" Tamaki said from behind me. I could feel the twins rubbing their cheeks on my head, and holding me from the sides.

"You guys know I love you, but I kinda can't breathe, and I enjoy breathing," I said.

"You two hooligans are suffocating my daughter!"

"Actually, I think it was a collective effort," I said, and they all loosened their grip, but didn't let go. I saw Haruhi get up and walk over to Takashi, all the while I was still engulfed by hugs.

"Guys, you can let go now." They didn't let go. "Guys, seriously, I'm going to end up over-heating, and it will just be worse." They finally released me, and I sat back down. "Hey, is it just me, or does it look like the rain is letting up?" I asked, and I could see some small patches of artificial light peeking through the artificial darkness. Then, I realized there were only five of us.

"Wait, guys, where's Haruhi and Takashi?"

_Ok, first A.N. for this story, YAY! Ok, this story has already changed from what I'd originally planned, so I'm hoping that means it's going to get interesting. I NEED REVIEWS! Like I said for my other story, I am a Reject (check it out it you love me!), reviews are like my PEZ; I can never have enough. You know, unless I got a cavity, then I'd have enough o.o I know I used quite a few of the lines from the episode (7 Jungle Pool SOS!) in this, but that's because it's basically the same situation, just with Izumi thrown in. I also decidedto show you some of her smarts from her "breeding" in this chapter. What do you think of Kaoru, huh? I think he's under appreicited in the anime and in fanfics; you see tons of HikaXHaru stories, but very rarely KaoruXHaru stories, so I decided I'd give him an interesting part. I think in the next chapter there will be a kiss, yes? Yes. Probably. But who will it be? Izumi with her fiance? Or with someone else? She's as smart as Kyoya, maybe his interest has been piqued? Maybe it won't be Izumi at all, her cousin Keiichi could have something going on. I don't know...(evil Kyoya like grin)... ~Stormy:3_


	3. More Like A Surprise Party

**A.N. Ok. I'm listening to Right Where You Want Me by Jesse McCartney. Let's do this.**

"Men! And Izumi, this is now a triple search and rescue party!" Tamaki exclaimed. "We need to split up and look for them! Some of us will go this way, and the others will go that way!" then Hikaru did something I really didn't understand.

"Come on Kyoya-sempai, Boss, let's go! We'll go this way, guys. You go that way!" he said, ushering them away as quickly as he could, leaving Kaoru and me alone.

"Ok…?" I said, as we began walking. "I know you two are kinda strange, and I mean that in the best possible way, but that was just weird."

"Yeah," Kaoru said, looking back over to where they're walked away. "You cold at all?"

"Oh, I'm fine," I said, surprised he'd asked.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it was just the rain, really. Now that I'm dry, it's fine," I said, and we walked in silence for a while.

"So what's it like? Being betrothed?" Kaoru asked. It surprised me, Haruhi had asked earlier, but I hadn't really said all of what I thought, because there were so many people.

"Pressured, like I need to be perfect. Strange, because I can't picture it. Over all, it's been kind of lonely, because I can't just be normal, I have to impress everyone. I have to befriend who my parents want me to, be who they want me to be," I said, looking at the ground. "The only place I've ever been able to be myself is with my cousin when I'm over at his house; I don't get to go over very often though, my parents think he's a bad influence, which he probably is," I said with a dry laugh. "But now, I have here too. I still have to act a little around Mitsukuni, because if this doesn't go well, I don't want to imagine what my parents will do." I felt his hand on my cheek, gently pulling my face up, since that was the side with the bruise, so I could see his topaz eyes.

"Well you don't have to pretend anymore. Not with me," he said quietly, looking my right in the eyes. I could feel my heart beating faster when he didn't let go of my face. Suddenly, I felt the crush of his lips against mine, and he was still looking at me, a question mark in his eyes. I responded by closing my eyes and wrapping my arms around his neck. I could feel the hand that wasn't on my face on the small of my back, pulling me closer. I ran my hands through his hair, while he backed up against a tree, so I was partially laying on him. I couldn't tell where I ended and he began anymore, all I could tell was that I _really_ liked this, and I was really grateful to Hikaru for what he'd done. When we'd gone to look for everyone. One of which I was betrothed to… I quickly stepped out of Kaoru's embrace.

"Kaoru, I-I, we-"

"I know, I just, I'm sorry,"

"That's not what I meant. I mean, I'm _betrothed._ Whether I like it or not, we just can't."

"I don't care," he said, grabbing my hands. "Look, I need you to be honest with me; did you like it?" he asked, and I could feel the blush rising in my cheeks as I nodded.

"Then we'll figure it out," he said, a smile on his lips. He quickly kissed me again and let one of my hands go as we kept walking. We kept walking with no progress; we must've been walking for almost an hour.

"Where could they all be? I'm sure we would've run into _someone_ by now," Kaoru said, and we kept walking.

"I don't know. Maybe they found each other and now we're the ones who need finding," I kidded, and he smiled. I really liked his smile, he looked like he was up to something, but it was a good something. He noticed me looking at him.

"What?"

"Nothing," I said and looked away, the blush again rising in my cheeks. He just chuckled and we kept walking. We found another hut-like structure like the one we'd been at before and decided to sit down.

"Wow. We must be seriously lost," I said, sitting with him at one of the tables. "Maybe splitting up was a bad idea."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Kaoru said, looking at me. He leaned in to kiss me again, but this time I was prepared and kissed him back. I never imagined my first (and second) kiss would be with someone other than the person I was going to marry. We stopped for a moment; he looked at me and sighed.

"What?" I asked, wondering if something was wrong. He gently brushed a finger over the bruise on my jaw.

"I wish that never happened to you," he said quietly, looking frustrated and sad.

"Hey, it's ok. There's nothing you or anyone could have done. It wasn't your fault, and it wasn't my fault, it was that big idiot's fault. There's no need to stress about it. It won't be long before it's gone anyway." He just looked at me and gave a weak smile. "Should we just stay here? They say if you're lost to stay in one place."

"Fine with me; I'm beat," he said, leaning back and putting his arms behind his head. I scooted closer and snuggled against his side, and he draped an arm around my shoulders. I closed my eyes and relaxed, but I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to him shaking my shoulders.

"Izumi, Izumi! Come on. Time to get up," I heard him say softly. I just groaned at him. I heard him sigh. I felt his arms go under me, and I leaned my head against his chest, listened to his heartbeat, only vaguely aware on what was going on.

"She's beat; we were walking around for quite a while before we found this place," I heard Kaoru say.

"Are you sure you're ok?" someone asked.

"I'm fine," Kaoru said in a reassuring voice.

"We should get going, sir. It's getting late," a man said.

"Yes, it is, isn't it? What shall we do with her?"

"She can ride home with us. We'll drop her off," Kaoru's voice rumbled through his chest as he spoke.

"Make sure to tell her that her daddy loves her!" a voice exclaimed.

"Shh! Boss, you'll wake her," another voice said. "Don't worry; we'll make sure she gets home ok."

"I'm not sure if I should be fine with this or worried," a dry voice commented as we walked away. As soon as we were away from the noise, I heard Kaoru talk.

"Thanks," he said, but I didn't know who he was talking to.

"No problem, but you owe me for dealing with the boss's worrying that whole time."

"Fine by me," Kaoru said, and I could hear the smile on his lips. I heard an automatic door slide open, and then closed behind us, and then another door open.

"Want some help?" whoever was with us offered.

"No, I got her," Kaoru said, and I felt myself being adjusted, so I wrapped my arms around his neck to better hold on, and I could hear the rumble of him chuckling in his chest. I felt him sit down but kept holding on.

"I take that as a sign it went well?" I heard the same voice who offered to help say. I didn't hear Kaoru respond; whether it was because I fell back asleep or he didn't respond at all, I don't know. The next thing I knew, I was being laid down.

"Goodnight," I heard a voice said softly.

"Kaoru?" I said, sitting up.

"Yeah, now shh. Go to sleep," I heard him say. I felt him quickly kiss me on the forehead, and I saw him leave, and fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Izumi! Get up!" I heard my mother's _lovely_ accent yell (**A.N. no offence to British people. I love their accents, I just mean to say Izumi is like Kyoya; when she's woken up, beware the demon eyes and attitude!).** I sat up, and realized I was still in my swimsuit and hoodie.

"Yes, mother?" I said, exhausted and about to kill someone slowly and painfully.

"Who was that young man who _carried you in_ last night? While you hardly have any clothes on?!" my mother said, her volume slowly escalating.

"Kaoru Hitachiin, his family is big in the fashion industry, he's a friend of Mitsukuni. He suggested we go to his mansion to go swimming, so he let me borrow one of his cousin's swimsuits, because she was staying with them," I suavely lied; once I started, I could come up with a whole story.

"Yes, but why was he bringing you home _asleep?"_ her voice had lowered a little.

"His mansion is closest to ours, so we agreed it was logical. I must have fallen asleep in the car," I said, and my mother squinted at me for a moment.

"Don't let it happen again," she said firmly, turned on her heel, and left. I waited a few moments before sighing in relief. I quickly dressed but made no move to leave. I grabbed my phone and dialed a number.

"Pretty early for you to be awake on a weekend," Keiichi said on the other line.

"Hello to you too. We need to talk; like, now."

"Be there in ten," he said, and hung up. Right after I hung up, I heard a small _clink!_ I paused. _Clink!_ I ran over to my window, and saw a puff of orange.

"Oh my god…" I whispered to myself as I door to my balcony. "What are you doing here?!" I stage whispered.

"I wanted to see you," Kaoru also stage whispered. "Can I come up?"

"I'd like to see you try," I had a second story room, no nearby plant trellises, no wall carvings to climb.

"Catch!" he said, and I noticed a rope ladder on the ground next to him.

"Are you serious?" I said, as I caught the other end and secured it to the balcony. He tugged on it a few times before climbing up and leaning on the railing.

"Always come prepared," he said, pecking me on the cheek and pulling the ladder up.

"You could have called you know."

"But that wouldn't've been as fun, now would it?" he said with a grin, and I couldn't help but grin back.

"Guess not," I said, heading back into my room. "Welcome, to my humble room," I said, even though my room probably wouldn't be classified anywhere near humble. My walls were black with a flowing blue water-like design I'd had painted all over them, my king size bed had a white headboard and blue covers, and I had a fifty inch flat screen mounted across from my bed. I'd done my room slightly fung-shui styled; not because I really believed in, but just for the hell of it. I had made sure I had a dimmer switch for the lights in my room, made sure my bed was easily accessible, not in a direct line with the door, had two bedside tables (with rounded corners) and nothing over it, and all my doors were always closed at night.

"Different. Nice, but different," Kaoru said, slowly looking around.

"Well I'm a different kind of person," I said, sitting down on a sofa I had below the television.

"Well I'm very glad you're a different kind of person," he said, before sitting down and kissing me. He wrapped his arms around me, and then suddenly leaned back, so I ended up lying on top of him and letting out a small squeak of surprise. He just laughed and kissed me again, this time more roughly, but I didn't mind. We somehow ended up on our sides, him on the outside, me on the inside. His kisses slowly trailed down my jaw that wasn't bruise, down my neck, and back up again, during which I thoroughly explored his chest and back. He was just about to repeat the process, when I heard someone whistling. I sat up, but Kaoru was quicker, and he jumped up so he was standing in front of me, and I couldn't see who it was, but I had my assumptions.

He was decked out in black jeans, a purple volcom shirt, black converse, a purple and black Neff hat semi-taming his shaggy black hair and a black stud each ear.

"I see why you wanted to talk," he said putting his long board down and causing Kaoru to look back between him and me.

"Hey Keiichi," I said, getting up and brushing off what just happened; I knew if I didn't, I'd never live it down. "You got here quick."

"Yeah, who's Mr. Possessive?" he asked, and I noticed how Kaoru was kind of hovering next to me.

"Oh, Kaoru, this is my cousin Shinju Keiichi. Keiichi, this is Hitachiin Kaoru," I said, and they both seemed to relax a little. They each gave each other a smile and a nod, but nothing else.

"Well this is a quite Pandora's box you've opened, huh?" Keiichi said with a small smile on his face and a slight sideways glance at Kaoru. "That's a pretty bad bruise you got too. Doesn't look too bad though, should be completely gone in a week an' a half. So what do you plan to do 'bout him?"

"There's nothing to be _done_ about me," Kaoru said.

"Is that so? So you two just gonna sneak around, while she pretends to being love with someone else, and eventually gets married? Then what, smart guy? You still plan of sneaking around after that? A kiss every now and then? A glance at parties? If you think that's how she wants to live her life then there is nothing to be done about you, because you don't deserve her if you even thought that for a _second._" There was silence for a moment.

"You're right," Kaoru said quietly, sitting back down next to me. "I didn't even think about that. I just, I was so focused on just _us_ I didn't really think about anyone else."

"I could tell," Keiichi said with a grin. "Well I believe it's clear what we need to do." We both looked up at him expectantly. "We need Mitsukuni to break off your engagement."

***GASP* Is Keiichi a genius? Or crazy? Or was he just saying the obvious answer? OR ALL THREE? Hmm.. I'll need to think about that. So was the kiss good? It was good for me… Anyhow, like I said, I feel Kaoru is underappreciated. I love Hikaru as well, but everyone loves him, so Kaoru should have a chance, yes? Yes? Yes. Ok. By the way, do you get the title? I meant like she was surprised by the kiss, and stuff, so, yeah... REVIEW! *Someone comes to whisper in my ear* Hmm? Wait, what was that? WHAT THE FUCK?! I DON'T HAVE ANY REVIEWS YET?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PEOPLE?! BLOODY BLACK JESUS (gotta love Red Tails)! REVIEWS ARE MY PEZ! Do you hate me? *sniffles* Why? I'm sorry… I'm going to go listen to sad music and cry now…**


	4. It Comes Naturally, Obviously

As I stepped out of my limo and walked toward my giant, pink, new school, I didn't see any of the host club, so I just walked into class. I saw Haruhi, but no twins yet.

"Hey. Where are our two red heads?" I asked, sitting behind her.

"I haven't seen them yet. They're going to be late if they don't get here soon," she said. I stared intently at the door, waiting for a certain someone who would be looking very uncomfortable… and there he was. Keiichi walked through the door trying to loosen his tie, but keep it neat at the same time. I snapped my finger in the air, catching his attention, and he walked to sit next to me, where he would be behind Hikaru.

"I don't like this," he said bluntly.

"Your idea; not mine," I said. "Keiichi, this is Haruhi. Haruhi, this is my cousin, Keiichi. He's already in the know; I figured you wouldn't mind."

"Fine by me. It's nice to meet you," she said, smiling. "Did you transfer here?"

"Yep," he said. He had decided to transfer here to keep an eye on everything. Also, he was the kind of person Mitsukuni probably wouldn't be too fond of, so that would reflect onto me since we're related.

The twins walked in right as class started.

"Where were you guys?" Haruhi asked as they sat down. Hikaru seemed to slow down in their race to their seats when he noticed Keiichi.

"Um, we were busy," he said, only glancing away from Keiichi for a moment. He seemed kinda creeped out as he sat down.

"Guys, this is Keiichi Shinju, my cousin. Keiichi, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin," I said, reintroducing Kaoru since Haruhi was here. Haruhi was pretty cool and all, but this wasn't exactly something I wanted her aware of.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

At the end of the day, I ran to my locker, got my cloths, and went to change in the bathroom. I pulled on the dark skinny jeans and purple band t-shirt, then got out to add a little bit of black eyeliner. Not too out-there looking, but not cute. I only jumped about ten feet in the air at Kyoya's while I was walking toward the club room.

"You look different," he commented, causing me to squeak and jump.

"Oh my god! I guess it'd be too out of the way to make a noise or something! Jesus Christ!" I said, starting to walk along side him.

"I apologize for startling you," he said, an amused look on his face.

"Well I'm glad you're enjoying it," I said sarcastically. "Now what exactly was it you said?"

"I just commented on the drastic fashion change," he said.

"Oh, this? It's nothing. I'm not a big dress person. Sometimes I wish I could do what Haruhi does. It'd definitely be more comfortable. It'd be pretty awkward though," I said, hoping to change the subject to Haruhi.

"Is that so?" he simply questioned, amused look gone.

"Yes. Are you implying there is something more?" I said, looking straight ahead.

"No. _Is_ there something more?" he said, stepping in front of me and bending down to my level.

"No. There isn't. Why? Is there something you would like to know?" I said, stepping towards him, making him step back. "Or are you in fact questioning the factuality of what I'm saying?" I took another step forward, and he took one back. "Because it rather seems like you are." And another. "And by extension questioning my honorability." And another. "Is that something you really want to do?" Another. "Because I don't think it is." He backed into a wall. "I believe we're good here?"

"Very," he said, a glare in his glasses, slipping around me.

I knew I probably shouldn't have done that, but I didn't care if he questioned me, but if he said anything too soon, we'd have some serious problems which I just couldn't deal with by now. When I reached the club room, I only had to wait a moment for Keiichi to show up.

"It sure took you long enough," I said, just wanting to give him a hard time.

"Well I take a little longer to get dressed than you do." I looked down at his slightly sagged pants, the chain attached to them, his black band shirt that showed his muscles with some foreign metal band on it, and the black arrows in his ears.

"Point taken. Let's do this," I said as we each opened a door. It was still club hours so a few girls looked at us as we walked in. As we walked in, Keiichi flipped his hair and I swear, some of the Kyoya's and especially the twins customers squealed. Kyoya just cocked an eyebrow while his customers weren't looking and I shrugged with a smirk on my face.

"Hey Keiichi, I think you just out did some of these guys," I said and he mirrored my smirk and grinned at some more girls, and even some of Mitsukuni's ladies looked over. "Tone it down, Casanova. You're going to run them out of business."

"Can't deny the masses," he said, but stopped grinning at them.

"My lovely daughter has returned!" Tamaki exclaimed, engulfing me in hug from nowhere.

"Breaking… spine…" I said and he finally released me. "Tamaki, this is my cousin, Shinju Keiichi. He just transferred here. Keiichi, this is the Host Club president, Suoh Tamaki."

"Nice to meet ya," Keiichi said, shaking his hand. By the expression on Tamaki's face, he'd shook it pretty hard. Keiichi didn't do it on purpose, but I'd learned he had a tendency to accidentally use more of his muscles than necessary.

"Nice to meet you too," he said, and kept his composure until Keiichi let go. He finally seemed to notice Keiichi's appearance and blanched a little.

"Uh, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to," he said, and quickly walked away. I slightly stuck my hand out in a fist, and Keiichi fist bumped it. I saw Haruhi just relaxing on a couch, apparently in between customers, and went to sit by her.

"Hi," I said and she smiled at me.

"What are you guys doing here? If you were going to visit with Honey-sempai, he'll probably be busy 'til closing," she said, and I was glad she misunderstood.

"Oh, we're just hanging out. Besides, it's not like we have anything better to do," I said, and Keiichi just shrugged. Haruhi did the same and walked off to her next customer, as I started watching Kaoru and Hikaru. I had to admit, it was pretty funny, slightly irritating (even though I knew it was fake), but still funny. Kaoru seemed to always be the catcher, and it was kind of adorable, though more it a Mitsukuni-way than an attractive-way, but I still liked watching. I caught Kaoru's eye and he smiled at me, and I could feel the heat in my cheeks, and quickly looked away, trying to get rid of it. We just sat there for a while, bored, and I think I fell asleep. Keiichi shook my shoulders.

"I'm awake!" I said, snapping my head up and quickly standing up, bumping my head on something. "Um, _ouch!"_ I looked up to see the whole host club snickering in a half circle around where I had been sleeping, and saw Keiichi rubbing his chin, but still snickering. "Keiichi! Why'd you do that?" he quickly understood where I was going. "You're so mean." He pulled me up, holding my shoulders.

"I'm sorry Izumi. I didn't mean to hurt you. You just looked so sweet while you were sleeping," he said, smiling at me while pushing a bit of hair out of my face. We stared at each other for a moment, and I looked around, staring at the blanching faces, then, I couldn't do it anymore. I burst out laughing.

"What'd you guys think? Were we very convincing?" I said, still in the middle of my laughing fit, and noticed Keiichi was doing the same, except he was lying on the floor.

"Just like Kao-chan and Hika-chan, huh Takashi?" Mitsukuni said, grinning. Takashi just smiled slightly and nodded.

"I don't know whether to feel honored-" Kaoru began.

"-or mocked," Hikaru finished, though they were both smiling.

"I think it was a little of both," I said, finally able to stop laughing.

"How dare you even think about laying your hands on my daughter like that!" I heard Tamaki shout. _Joy…_

"Um, I don't know you-" Keiichi started, looking confused.

"It doesn't matter! What matters is that you were harassing my beautiful daughter! You pervert!" Tamaki yelled, lunging at Keiichi. _This will be interesting._ It only took a second for Tamaki to be flat on his back, wide violet eyes staring at the ceiling, just like last time he surprised a Shinju. I walked over to stand over him.

"You really should stop trying to surprise Shinjus. You keep ending up on the ground." He had to wait a minute for air to reenter his lungs.

"I would prefer if you could refrain from injuring anyone else," Kyoya said from behind me. I didn't really want to look at him, so I just shot him a thumbs-up, still focusing on Tamaki

"What is up with you and flipping innocent people!?" Tamaki said, again yelling, and sprang up. "And if he is related to you, then why would he do something like that!?"

"You scared me," Keiichi said simply and shrugged. "It's not every day you have someone wrongly accuse you of something, then _lunge at you."_

"He has a point boss," the twins added.

"You shouldn't've jumped to conclusions," Haruhi said.

"He shouldn't have _jumped_, period," I said, and she smiled.

"Hey Izumi-chan!" I turned around to see Mitsukuni smiling at me from Takashi's shoulders. "I was thinking you, me, and Takashi could go do something today. Doesn't that sound like fun?" _It's not like I can just say no._

"Sure, that sounds like fun. Did you have anything particular in mind?" I asked, keeping a smile on my face.

"It's gonna be a surprise!" he said, giggling.

"All the more fun!" _I hate surprises._

***GASP* Should Izumi have done that to Kyoya!? She must have been pretty intimidating to do that to our beloved Shadow King, huh? & what about Mitsukuni & Izumi's (& Takashi's, I guess) date? Where will they go? I don't know yet! Let's find out! Sorry for the shorty chapter, I will how hopefully make up for it with my next idea. I'm thinking about doing a special chapter, not necessarily next, but to show you guys what a regular day was like for Izumi before she was sent off to romance Honey; about how her parents were breeding everything from her etiquette to how she spoke. She seems pretty relaxed now, doesn't she? Well she was never even close to this before, except for on ****extremely**** rare cases. Anyhow, as always, review, umm, what else? Oh yeah, on our previous topic, I'm doing a contest to create characters for that special chapter. There will be multiple winners since I'll need multiple characters. I've started a forum for it just to keep it organized, called That Awkward Child has Things to Say!, it will also function as a blog of sorts for anything important like any other contests I have, or anything of that nature. You don't need to draw the character or anything, I'm just looking for a general description, height, hair color, eye color, family business, etc. I made Izumi a playlist on YouTube! I hope you like! I picked all the songs for a reason!**

** playlist?list=PLF5BC9A8A476AEB7C&feature=mh_lolz**

**If ^that^ doesnt work, just search 'Izumi Shinju' on youtube, & it should come up. I also have a playlist for my other OC (Arisu Takahashi) from my other story, so if you want to check hers out, go nuts. Her's is a less specific to her story, more what she would listen to if she were an actual person. Well, have fun!**

**~Stormy:3**


	5. Just Dance

**This chapter is rated M for drinking, so if you don't want to read it, I'll out in bold where it's all good to start reading, and I'll give you a summary at the bottom! ~Stormy:3 **

Honey and Takashi had driven me home so I could change and get ready for tonight. They said they would be here at eight, so I had plenty of time to get ready. I tried to find something Honey wouldn't love, but wouldn't be super obvious that I didn't want him to love it. They'd told me to wear something comfortable, so I settled on a blue blouse, black pencil skirt, and blue ballet flats. I added a touch of make-up, and small black diamond earrings. I headed downstairs to wait for them to arrive, but half way there I heard the doorbell ring. I began jogging, and found my mom at the door, talking to Mitsukuni. I stepped back behind the corner next to the stairs before coming into view.

"Oh really? I didn't know you were taking her out tonight," my mother said.

"Yeah! It was a little last minute, but I think she's gonna have a lot of fun!" Mitsukuni said, obviously using his cuteness on my mom.

"Well I'm glad to hear it," my mom said, and I stepped into view. "Oh there you are darling! Where have you been?" she had turned away from Mitsukuni, and I could see the irritation in her eyes.

"Sorry, I just wanted to be sure I looked nice," I said, feigning innocence. "Are you ready to go?" I said, turning to Mitsukuni.

"Yep! Come on!" he grabbed my hand and pulled me out behind him. When we reached the car, I realized Takashi wasn't with us.

"Where's Takashi?"

"He couldn't make it," Mitsukuni said, buckling Usa-chan in. As we drove off, I didn't recognize the neighborhood we were in.

"Where are we headed?"

"It's a surprise, remember? I decided to go somewhere you've probably never been before that I think you would like!" he said, and excited smile on his face. We soon arrived at a large building that looked like it had once been a modest office building, but had been shut down. When Mitsukuni opened the doors, we were in a long hallway that ran parallel to the outside walls, seeming to wrap all the way around. The only break in the wall was a set of double doors with a large man with short brown hair standing next to them, and I could hear pounding music from the other side. _No way…_

Mitsukuni smiled at the large man, who gave him a surprisingly nice smile. He opened the door, and I could now hear the full force of the music.

"No way…" I said out loud this time.

"I talked to Kichi-chan a bit, and he recommended this place. He said you'd always wanted to go a place like this!" Mitsukuni said pulling me in as the doors reclosed behind us. There were strobe lights, lasers, a pounding base; the whole nine yards. I was surprised he'd done this, since I knew this really wasn't his scene, but he'd done it anyway. It really was a sweet gesture.

"Wow, thanks. You really didn't have to go through all this trouble-"

"It really wasn't that hard! Kichi-chan just called the owners, and they said they were glad to have us!" he said, pulling me over to a table. "You hungry?"

"I'm fine."

"Well, I'm going to get something to eat! I wonder if they have cake. I'll find you in a bit!" he said, hopping off towards what looked like a bar. _I hope he knows what he's doing. At least I don't have to worry about him getting hurt_.

I walked around the dance floor, and I could feel the heat radiating from it; all the sweating, pulsating bodies. I almost bumped into a surprisingly formal looking waiter carrying a tray of also surprisingly formal looking large champagne glasses.

"Champagne?" he said, obviously not really looking at me, or unable to clearly make me out in the darkness.

"I'm too-" I paused. I realized one thing; I was alone. Free to make my own choices. My mother couldn't control what I did here, no one could. I was free. "Thank you," I pulled off a glass, taking a sip. I'd had watered down champagne before, but this way different. It was bitter, bubbly, and burned a little going down. I quickly through most of the rest down like a shot, wincing a little at the burn, but it wasn't as bad as the first time. The result was almost instantaneous; I could feel my muscles relaxing, my emotions subsiding, and my worries fading. It was amazing. I swallowed the rest of it, feeling more relaxed than I had in years. I quickly relocated the waiter, grabbing another two glasses before he could look at me any closer. I took a quick sip, feeling the slight burn, but still reaping the rewards of the depressant's effect. I accidently bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry dude," I said with a little giggle, and turned and walked away.

_Kaoru…_

It was their favorite club, and it's not like they had anything better to do. The bouncer waved them in and they headed towards the dance floor. After about half an hour, they were tired and headed to a table for a break.

"You know what'd be funny?" Hikaru said, and Kaoru looked at him. "Haruhi at a place like this. _That_ I would love to see!" he said, grinning as they imagined it. Haruhi would probably hate a place like this, considering how loud it was and the flashing lights that barely let you see anything. Kaoru was leaning against a column near the table, catching his breath and trying to cool down after the heat from the mosh pit in the center of the dance floor

"Oh, sorry dude," voice said with a slight giggle, he couldn't hear it very well, but it sounded a little like Izumi. _Wow, I really must be tired._ He turned around and noticed a girl had bumped into the other side of the column, and was walking away, champagne glasses in hand. She looked a little short to be drinking, and she must've been pretty smashed, thinking the column was a person, but who was he to judge? She even looked a little like Izumi, same hair part, same height. _Weird…_

"What is it?" Hikaru asked, looking where he was looking.

"Nothing; this girl just looked a lot like Izumi from behind, but she had champagne, so it couldn't've been her," Kaoru told him with a shrug, which he returned. "Maybe you could go out with her. We could be twinning even more than usual," he kidded.

"That was one time! I didn't even drink that much!" Hikaru said, and Kaoru just grinned. They were referring to their mother's birthday party a couple years back. Their mother didn't mind if they drank, Kaoru just preferred not to, but Hikaru was a little more willing than his better half was. He'd drank enough to try to hit on the daughter of a large company, but Kaoru had quickly distracted the girl and removed Hikaru before anything he'd done anything he'd regret. "Besides, what are the chances?"

"One in a million," they said together, and were silent for a moment.

"Wanna go check her out anyway?"

"Yep."

They found her at a table. Her back was again facing away from them, so they walked around to get a better look.

"Hi!" Hikaru had said, and then looked to Kaoru, who hadn't mimicked him, then back to who was into front of them.

"Hey Kaoru! Oh my god! There are two of you! Holy shit! Hikaru's gonna be so fucking _jealous_!" Izumi giggled, grinning at them, hands by her face. "Oh my god! We should, like, _do_ something! Something fun! I don't know what, though…"

"I-Izumi?" Kaoru said, and Hikaru could hear the disappointment in his brother's voice, and he was disappointed too; Izumi was better than this. She had more class than both of them put together. But not right now she didn't; she was totally smashed. "What are you doing here? Wait, _why_ are you here? What about Honey-sempai? I thought you tow were going on a, date," Kaoru hesitated at the word, "date."

"Hmm. This _is_ our date, silly Kaoru number one! I don' really know. We should probably find him! He could get hurt!" she said, now looking frantic. Then she looked green.

"Hikaru, could you look for Honey-sempai?" he said, trying to hurry Izumi towards the door. "I'll handle her!" They got out and to a bush just in time for Izumi to throw up whatever she'd eaten. He stood behind her and held her hair back and rubbed her back, like their maids had done for them when they'd been sick when they were little. When she was done, she stood up, leaning back against him, pulling his arms around her small form, which normally would've made him smile, but didn't, given the circumstances.

"Than' you. I feel better now," she said quietly, sounding exhausted.

"You're welcome," he said just as quietly, staring at the concrete. He just sighed, kissed the top of her head, and grabbed her hand to take her back inside. He didn't see any sign of his brother or his blond sempai, so they waited in the cool outer walkway, in case they had to run outside again. He leaned against the wall and she did the same, but quickly sliding the wall down since her shoes gave no resistance against the smooth flooring. She giggled, and he didn't know whether to smile or cry.

_Hikaru…_

It took a while to find Honey-sempai, but he eventually found him at a table a little ways away from the one they'd found Izumi at.

"Hika-chan! What are you doing here? Where'd Kao-chan?" he said, obviously surprised.

"Kaoru and I have been here a couple times before. We were just hanging out. This where you took Izumi for your date.

"Yep! Kichi-chan recommended it!"

"Well, we found Izumi, and-"

"You did!? I went to get something to eat, than she disappeared, and I looked around for her for a while, but I couldn't find her, so I decided to wait here for her in case she came back," he said, looking relieved.

"Umm…" he hesitated, not particularly wanting to tell him that his fiancée was completely drunk. "Come on. You should probably see for yourself." Honey-sempai looked a little confused, but contentedly followed. _Dear lord, please let her be done… _Hikaru thought to himself as he headed towards the exit. He found Izumi on the ground and his brother against the wall in the outer walkway. They looked at each other with matching frowns as they waited for the train wreck that was about to go down.

"Izumi-chan! What are you doing out here? Come on!" he easily pulled her to her feet despite his size, and managed to catch her when she stumbled a little. "Are you ok Izumi-chan?" She laughed.

"I'm peachy! Hey, why do peaches have fuzz? Why don't apples have fuzz? Fuzzy!" She fell backwards with another peal of laughter, and slid down the wall so she was on the ground again.

"Yeah, I think she may have had a bit too much to drink…" Kaoru said, still looking at the ground. Their blond senior looked confused at first, but then realization struck him.

"But, but…" he stammered, not knowing what to say. "But she wouldn't-"

"Well apparently she did, so what do you wanna do about it?" Kaoru said, sounding harsher than he'd intended, hands fisted at his sides.

_Kaoru…_

He could barely stand it. He wanted to punch through a hundred walls then have Izumi hug him and make it better, but that wasn't an option right now. He needed to make sure she would be ok and that this would never happen again.

"We should probably get her home," Honey said, looking somber.

"Ok. We'll go with you," Hikaru said, and his brother nodded. They got her up again, albeit a little more carefully this time, and got her out to Honey's limo, and the twins waved off theirs when Honey said his could drive them back later. They got her buckled in and seated in between Honey and Kaoru.

"Hey guys! Where we goin'?" she said, giggling at nothing in particular. Kaoru put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, fingers tugging at his hair.

"This is so not happening." He said so quietly that no one else could hear. "Guys, please tell me I am dreaming right now," he said loud enough for them to hear this time. "Please tell me she did not just do this."

"I wish I could," their blond sempai said, and Kaoru looked over to him and could see him with a tiny, sad smile covering his face. "What should we do? It's not like we can take her home where her mom will see her like this."

"Yeah, I don't know how much she drank, but she thought a pole was a person, so I'm going to assume it's going to take a while to sleep it off and she'll have a pretty bad hangover in the morning," Hikaru said, taking a peek at Izumi. "It looks like she's already working on the 'sleep it off' part." They looked over and she'd slumped forward a little and was quietly snoring. Kaoru leaned her back against the seat, and she moved in her sleep so her cheek was resting on his shoulder; he sighed and let her sleep.

"She could stay at my place and we'll tell her mom we lost track of time and were really tired or something," Honey-sempai suggested. Kaoru's hands fisted at his sides, but he couldn't object. He felt his brother's hand cover his.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go," the driver pulled out and headed to the Haninozuka house. They rode in relative silence, except for the occasional snore or intelligible mumble from Izumi. When they arrived, they managed to get her awake enough to walk in behind Honey, with her hands on his shoulders. Once the car doors closed and the Hitachiins were alone, Kaoru finally let out a shout of anger, double face palming. Hikaru wasn't completely sure what to do, seeing as the roles were switched this time around. Normally it was him worrying over Haruhi, but now he had to be the stable one.

"Hitachiin Estate please," he quickly said to the driver through the intercom, and turned back to his brother. "Kaoru, it's going to be fine. You know she really cares about you, right?"

"She also thought there were two of me," he responded, looking at the floor of the limo. Hikaru took his twin's hand in his.

"So? She'd never betray you, even when she's drunk, she's above that. Trust me. She'll be fine."

**(Ok, for those of you who chose not to read the drinking, here would be where you can start!)**

_Mitsukuni…_

He didn't even know how to describe how he felt. He didn't think he'd ever been this disappointed in someone in his life. He'd taken her into one of the guest bedrooms, removed her shoes, and got her to get herself under the covers. She'd passed out before her head hit the pillow. He walked toward his room in a bit of a daze, passing by Takashi's on the way. The door was cracked, and it opened right as he passed by, and his cousin gave him a question mark look, and he just sighed.

"Not too good. She's in the guest room," he pointed a thumb towards the room and walked dejectedly to his own.

_Takashi…_

He could tell something was wrong the moment his cousin got home early, but now he had to go find out what it actually was. He walk to the guest room, quietly knocked, and was only answered with a light snore. He quietly opened the door and entered, cautiously walking towards the bed. Once he got close, he could smell the alcohol, and couldn't believe it. He saw her stir in her sleep.

"Hmm… Takashi?" she said, sitting up a little.

"Shh," he pulled the blankets back up around her. "Why?" he asked, even though he doubted she was perceptive enough to understand the meaning.

"Have you ever had to be completely perfect?" she surprised him by answering, and she sat all the way up. "Like, if you fuck up, then you're totally screwed. Tha's what it was like every day for me. At least, till I met all o' you guys. Then, I could actually relax for once, it was kinda weird at first, but Kaoru really helped." Takashi raised an eyebrow at that. "He said I di'n't have to act anymore, so I di'n't. I just had fun. Like tonight," she said, and sighed, sounding surprisingly sober. Takashi felt a small pair of arms slip around him from behind. "Thank you for listening, and for not judging." She let go then laid back down, falling right back to sleep. Takashi didn't know what to think.

**So this not too lovely chapter has come to an end. For those of you who preferred not to read, here is your summary: **For their date, Mitsukuni took Izumi out to a club that Keiichi had recommended because she's always wanted to go to one. She was left alone for a few minutes, and was offered champagne by a waiter because he couldn't tell how young she was in the darkness. She realized that she was now free to make her own choices, that no one could control what she did right then (since her mother had basically controlled her whole life up until she started hanging out with the Host Club). She drank a few pretty quickly and end up totally smashed. Coincidentally, Kaoru and Hikaru were also at the club (they'd been there a few times before). They spotted her from behind, and not realizing it was here, decided to check out the 'Izumi look-alike.' They realized it was her, Kaoru took her outside because she looked like she was going to be sick, and Hikaru went to look for Mitsukuni. They found each other at the entrance as Kaoru and Izumi were heading back in. None of them could believe this was happening, so they decided to have Izumi spend the night at Mitsukuni's house so her mother wouldn't find out, and came up with the age old excuse, they'd lost track of time, and were exhausted. The twins rode with Mitsukuni and borrowed his driver for a ride home. Kaoru was upset (and more than a little jealous), so Hikaru had to console him, and he thought about the irony of the switched positions (because it was usually him worrying over Haruhi). **And that's it for the summary! Ta da! Finally finished. I felt terrible for doing this to Izumi, but this is one of the main chapters I'd envisioned when I came up with the idea for this story, the other being the Jungle Pool SOS one. And another thing, I NEED YOU GUYS TO ACTUALLY GO ON MY FORUM IF YOU WANT THE SUPER SPECIAL CHAPTER ON IZUMI'S LIFE PRE-HOST CLUB! I'm doing a caption contest for a funny picture of the twins and Tamaki I liked. Come on guys! You would get to design and help personalize a character for said Special chapter! I don't care if it's lame, I at least need some entries of I just won't do it. Sorry for being a bitch about it, but life's a bitch like that sometimes. The forum is called That Awkward Child has Things to Say! and it's (obviously) in the Secondhand Contest section. ~Stormy:/**


	6. A Little Thing Called an, 'Intervention'

I'd managed to avoid everyone all week one way or another and had somehow managed to sneak out of Mitsukuni's house when I woke up in one of the guest rooms, and I was almost free for the weekend. _Let me make it to the limo. _Please_ let me make it to the limo._ I was a few feet away, yellow monstrosity and bag in hand, when I was literally swept off my feet. I was slung over a shoulder, and I had a good idea whose it was.

"Takashi?"

"Mmm."

"Intervention?"

"Yeah," he said simply, but didn't let me down. I put my elbows on his back to support my head, and was still that way when we walked into the music room, before setting me down. I was freaking out, but years of practice had taught me not to show it.

"Okay. Let's do this. Might as well get this over with," I said, and five voices began talking at once, even Mitsukuni seemed to hate me at the moment, and I quietly waited for them to realize that no one could understand anything. "Let's do this one at a time."

"My beautiful daughter is an alcoholic!" Tamaki exclaimed.

"I am _not_ an alcoholic," I said, already getting irritated.

"What's _wrong_ with you!?" Hikaru exclaimed.

"Are you _crazy_!? Do you _realize_ what you were _doing_!?" his brother shouted at me. My fists clenched under my legs on the couch. It seemed to be Kyoya's turn, and even he looked uncharacteristically pissed. I currently knew the feeling.

"Were you even thinking?" he said, more calm sounding than the others but obviously angry none the less.

"It's not good for you," Takashi added, somehow remaining calm in the madness when even I couldn't.

I snapped.

"I _know_ that! You think I don't? I'm not a _helpless_ child! I'm not an _alcoholic_! I'm not _crazy_! I realize what I did, and I was thinking! I wanted for one moment to be able to relax! To drop the charade of being the _perfect_ daughter! I can't _take_ it anymore!" I ran out of the room, but heard voices behind me. I poured on as much speed as I could, running past the limo, not going in any particular direction. I ran around street corners, down alleys, and through a few yards. It felt like an hours, and by the time I'd stopped, I had no clue where I was. I was exhausted and slumped against the wall of the building I'd stopped next to. I was seriously glad I'd changed out of my uniform into some loose capris and a tee shirt. I quickly pulled out my phone and speed dialed number three.

"Hello?"

"Hey Haruhi."

"Where are you? Everyone's worried about you," she told me, sounding disappointed.

"I know. I'm sorry. Are you at home?" I asked, really hoping she was.

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you hate me?" I asked bluntly in a very Haruhi-like manner.

"No."

"Then can I stay at your house for the night? I hate to invite myself over, but I could really use this kind of favor right now," I said, not really wanting to impose, but I really didn't want to go home and be alone, either.

"Sure. Where are you?" I looked up at the street signs.

"Near, uh, Liu Lane and Willow Way." Haruhi gave me the directions and told me she'd wait outside the door for me. Of course right then it conveniently started pouring. Thank _you white tee shirt._ I ran in the direction Haruhi told me too and arrived right as I saw her open the door to a second story apartment. I ran up the staircase and she ushered me inside.

"Thanks," I said wiping my face off with my not much drier shirt.

"You want some dry clothes?" Haruhi offered.

"If it isn't too much trouble."

"Haruhi dear, who is that?" a voice called. A man walked in with long curly red hair in a ponytail, who I assumed was her father.

"Hi, I'm Izumi Shinju. It's lovely to meet you sir," I said with a smile.

"Sir? Oh Haruhi! Your little friend is as delightful as Kyoya!" _Kyoya is delightful?_ "I'm Ryoji Fujioka, Haruhi's father, but you can call me Ranka," he said holding both of my hands. "Darling, you're soaking wet. Haruhi, do you think she could borrow some of your things, perhaps? At least while hers are dried. Oh, you must stay over! We can't possibly send you back out there! It's horrid out. Can she, Haruhi?"

"She already is, Dad," Haruhi said in a slightly patronizing voice. "Would you like some tea? And dad, don't you need to get ready for work?"

"Oh, yes! Well, feel free to come and visit our humble abode any time, darling," Ranka said, walking farther into the house.

"Sorry about my dad," Haruhi said, grabbing cups. "He gets a little excited. You can sit if you like."

"It's fine! He seems like a lovely man," I said, walking to the table, and I meant it. I wish I had a parent like that.

"You have no idea…" Haruhi muttered, bringing over two cups and a small pot of steaming tea.

"Well dearies, I'll be off!" Ranka called, and I could hear clicking footsteps. "See you tomorrow morning!" and then he walked in, in full drag. _And he called me delightful…_

"This is what you do for a living?" I asked, getting what Haruhi had meant.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear-"

"No! This is so cool! Haruhi, I love your dad!" Haruhi just sighed as he dad squealed and enveloped me in a hug.

"Oh Haruhi! I love your friend! She's lovely!" he said. "I wish I didn't have to leave so soon. Ta ta dearies!" he said, letting me go and walking out the door. Haruhi sighed with a relief.

"Okay, your dad is pretty awesome. I wish my parents, even just one of my parents, were like that."

"Yeah, but trying living with that twenty-four/seven," Haruhi said with a small smile.

"Please, try having parents where it's their way or the highway, and they practically groom you from birth. My cousin Keiichi even calls them douche-bagels."

"Okay? Good point. Oh, yeah, I'll get you something dry to put on. Any requests?" she said, getting up.

"Anything warm, please," I said, quickly texting my mom about where I was before turning my phone off. Haruhi returned a moment later. "Here." She showed me to her room where she left me to change into a long sleeved, fuzzy, black sweater and some really comfy sweatpants. _I _love_ commoner clothes._ The shirt was a little tight around the chest, but I didn't mind. I went back to the living room, walking slowly as I did. There were pictures on the wall of Haruhi, her dad and her mom. I'd learned a while back about how her mom died, and she really was a beautiful woman. They all looked really happy. I headed back to where Haruhi was waiting and quietly sipped my tea, waiting for her to say something.

"Aren't you going to ask?"

"Ask what?"

"About what I did," I said, confused.

"Hey, it's really none of my business. If you don't wanna talk about it, it's fine by me," she said simply.

"Haruhi, you are the best, you know that?"

"Of course I do," she said, and we both laughed. We spent most of the night watching movies and talking about nothing in particular; the guys, school, life in general. Since we were both pretty small, we both slept in her bed and were asleep before our heads hit the pillow. It was one of the best nights I'd had in a long time.

My morning wasn't very good though.

Haruhi and I both woke up and were having a lovely breakfast with her father before he went to bed, and we heard knocking. Ranka got up to answer it since he was leaving anyway, and guess who just decided to barge in? Every-freaking-body. In the chaos, I managed to find my way to the bathroom and lock the door. I didn't even bother to turn the lights on; I just sat there, lying on the cool tile floor listening to the havoc going on outside. Amidst said havoc, I heard a quiet knock on the door.

"Izumi-chan?" I heard Mitsukuni's voice quietly ask.

"Yes?"

"Can I come in?" I reached up and unlocked the door, and saw his small form for a moment against the hallway light before he closed the door behind himself. I pulled myself into a sitting position, leaning against the cabinets.

"So, on a scale of one to ten, how much do you hate me?" I asked, not sure what I would get for an answer; probably in the four to seven range.

"Zero." _Now _that_ surprises me._

"What?"

"I don't hate you, Izumi-chan. None of us do, I don't think we could if we tried; we were just upset that you just avoided us without even talking to us first." I was barely able to hold back the tears. "We all just care about you a lot, even Kyo-chan even though he doesn't show it; we just don't want you to get hurt, you're part of our family now." I could feel tears leaving hot tracks down my face.

"Thanks." I noticed it had gotten pretty quiet, and I looked at where there was a little light coming in from under the door; there were shadows in front of it. I put a finger to my lips that Mitsukuni could probably barely see, and I scooted towards the door. Supporting myself with my hands, I lifted both of my feet and kicked the door really hard. I heard shouts of pain from the other side.

"Curiosity killed the cat," I said, wiping off my face then opening the door. The twins and Tamaki grinned at me from the floor as Mitsukuni and I walked out. I tried not to roll my eyes, but failed. I headed back out to where everyone else had squeezed into the little dining room, and sat by Haruhi.

"I am so sorry for leaving you alone with them. That must've been terrifying," I said with mock sadness.

"It was," she said, and we both smiled. I sighed, knowing what was coming next, since now everyone had fitted themselves around the table.

"Okay, I guess we're gonna talk about this, so let's just get it done," I said, and luckily there wasn't a huge burst of yelling like last time. There was actually silence for a moment.

"I'm sorry for what I said." I looked over at Tamaki. "For calling you an alcoholic. I didn't mean it. I wasn't thinking, and for that, I am sorry."

"It's okay. And just so you know, if anyone else planned on apologizing, you really don't need to because honestly, I beat myself up over this more than you guys could if you tried. I shouldn't have snapped at you, that wasn't right. It's my fault that I screwed up, and you had every right to hate me forever, so I'm really sorry that you guys had to go through all this trouble and worrying and such. I'm pretty damn lucky to have you guys," I said, on the verge of tears, but still making them smile. I quickly wiped my eyes and stood up. "Okay guys, I think you know what happens now: group hug." I saw Kyoya hesitate. I grabbed his arm and pulled him in with the group. "Come on, I don't think a group hug will _kill_ you." It was really nice, just having everyone together and relaxed.

Of course I wasn't perfectly relaxed; if I were that would be a miracle. I still had to worry about Kyoya being way too observant, I still had to ask what the hell Keiichi was thinking when he sent Mitsukuni and me to a nightclub, I had to deal with my mom (but I do that every day), I had to deal with life in general, and, oh yeah, there's also the little fact that I'm stuck in an arranged marriage I don't really want to be in and I like one of my fiancée's best friends. Sounds like a pretty normal life, huh?

I wish.

**READ! THIS IS IMPORTANT!**

**Hey guys. Sorry this chapter is kinda short, but this seemed like an okay place to end it, and if I crammed the next chapter into it, it would either really suck or be way too long. So, now we need to have a little talk. Do you guys even want the special chapter on Izumi's Life pre-Host Club? Because it doesn't seem like you do. I've already said this, but I'll say it again: If no one does the little contest thing I have set up, then I just won't do it. There are no excuses not to, if you can't find the forum, there's a link on my profile. All you need to do is make a little caption for this funny Ouran picture I found; easy. It doesn't even have to be good, I just need some people to do it. Because really, I'm now officially putting my foot down: No entries, no chapter. Period. The End. No questions about it. Sorry for being a bit of a bitch, but life's a bitch sometimes and you just need to deal with it. ~Stormy:/**


	7. Maybe It's Not Just Me

_Hikaru…_

Izumi looked good in Haruhi's shirt. Enough said. _Kaoru_ wouldn't outright say it of course, but he knew he was thinking it. Hikaru knew all about their little romance, and he was happy for his brother, just not that it was necessarily with this girl; a girl who was engaged. They'd talked about it, and he remembered when his brother told him.

_They had just gotten home from dropping Izumi off, and Kaoru seemed a little off._

_ "Are you okay?" he asked. "How'd it go?"_

_ "Not good," his brother said, flopping on the bed, arms over his eyes. Hikaru was pretty surprised._

_ "But you guys-"_

_ "I kissed her, Hikaru," Kaoru said, not moving. Hikaru realized what his twin meant by, 'not good.' He liked her, but for them to actually _be_ anything, it would get really complicated. He went and flopped down beside his twin, taking his hand._

_ "We'll make this work. We'll figure something out; we always do, don't we?"_

They would figure something out. It wouldn't be easy, but as they sat there, Hikaru knew they could.

_Mitsukuni…_

He was glad Izumi-chan was okay. Now he was able to stop worrying. Even though they hadn't known each other very long, he found himself really caring about her happiness and wellbeing. Even though he wasn't in love with her or anything, they were good friends at least. She may not exactly be his type, but he would learn to love her…

Right?

_Izumi…_

"So what would you guys like to do? We have time for just about anything," I said. It was still early in the day, so we had plenty of time to hang out.

"I don't have any plans, so I don't really care," Haruhi said with a shrug.

"Guys, I have an idea," I said, a growing smile on my face.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Um, are you sure about this?" Haruhi asked nervously, hesitant to stand on the board.

"You'll be fine. Keiichi and I and everyone else are right here; we won't let you fall," I told her reassuringly. She had on borrowed knee-pads, elbow-pads, and a helmet, and she carefully stepped onto the board as everyone else watched. I stood behind her, hands on her shoulders, and Keiichi was in front of her, ready to catch her if she slipped, and I could see him alternating playing with his lip studs on either side of his mouth.

"Now carefully shift your weight from side to side, only a little though," he instructed, and she did; making the board move just a little. "See? Not too hard, now twist your front foot a little," he said, and did. "Now, this is how you push off, you'll twist your foot like that, and take your other foot off, and push. Simple as that."

"You got this?" I asked him, and he nodded. I went to grab the other board he'd brought. "Who's next?" Tamaki raised his hand, looking excited, and I waved him over. I handed him a helmet and everything else. "So do you sort of understand part of it?"

"I think so," he answered, standing next to the board.

"Good. Takashi? Could I get a little help here? I don't think I'd be able to catch him if he fell," Takashi nodded, walking over, and Tamaki looked slightly less eager. I told him to do the same thing Keiichi had told Haruhi, getting the same result. I looked over and saw Keiichi carefully pushing Haruhi along the pavement, and I noticed Hikaru was watching closely. As in, _very_ closely._ Hmm… I may have to keep an eye on them,_ I thought with a smile, then turned back to Tamaki. "Ok, ready to push off a little?" I asked, and he smiled and nodded. He pushed a little, moving about two feet forward. "See? It's not too hard."

"Yeah, that was kind of fun," he said, grinning at his accomplishment.

"Imagine how fun it would be if you could reach the end of the block," I said, hoping to motivate him even more. I've learned that motivation is a great factor in life, and using definitely has advantages. "Want to try again?"

"Yeah," he pushed off again, making it three feet this time. "Did you see that!?"

"Yeah! Nice, you're picking up on this pretty quick," I said, then explained how to turn. I set him off with Takashi and looked over to check on Haruhi; she almost fell one time, but she fell backwards right onto Keiichi, so he caught her pretty quickly. I also noticed Hikaru turn a little red and saw him clench his fists, and I had an idea. "Hey Haruhi! You think you got the hang of it fairly well?" I called over to her.

"I guess," she said with a shrug.

"Good. Could you show Hikaru? We have one more extra board so that way we can teach everyone else at once."

"Sure. Doesn't matter to me," she said. I saw Hikaru look at me, and I winked at him and smiled. He smiled back, heading to where Haruhi was standing.

"Nice job." I hadn't even noticed Mitsukuni standing next to me.

"I think they'd be cute together, don't you?"

"Yeah, I can tell Hika-chan really likes Haru-chan, but I don't know if she likes him that way."

"Maybe not yet," I said, watching them. "But who knows? It may only be a matter of time."

"I guess it's my turn," Kaoru said, walking over to join us, already adorned in his protective gear.

"Yep. You ready?"

"As ready as I can be," he said with a smile.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Kyoya had skills. Like serious skills. When he got determined, he didn't give up until he succeeded. And when I asked why he cared about figuring it out so much, all he said was, "I never fail." I guess that's as good of a reason as any. By the time we were all done, he was able to ride up and down the block with ease. Most of the other guys could make it most of the way, but might tip a little and catch themselves. Even Haruhi got the hang of it after a while.

"Well, I gotta be going. Later," Keiichi said, gathering up his boards and riding one towards his house with a little chorus of, "bye's," behind him.

"We should probably be getting home too, huh Takashi?" Mitsukuni said, and Takashi nodded. "Okay, bye everybody!" he said, and climbed into their limo. I saw Tamaki and Kyoya calling for theirs. I didn't see the twins, though. I looked around, and saw Hikaru was talking to Haruhi by the stairs, and they were both smiling. They were so cute together.

"Thanks."I turned around and saw Kaoru. "For helping him out. I know he really appreciates it."

"It was no trouble for me; I was glad to help. They're pretty adorable. Do you think it'll work out between them?"

"Well, Hikaru's a bit of a dummy sometimes, and he doesn't always handle his emotions very well, but I think so," he said, gazing at his brother. I saw Tamaki and Kyoya's limos pull up, and we all waved as they left, just leaving the twins, Haruhi and I. Then I noticed Kaoru frowning.

"What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking; they're pretty lucky. They don't have any restrictions to worry about, and they can just be normal around people, you know?" he said, and I knew what he meant. It still didn't make me feel any better, though.

"Yeah. It must be pretty tough to deal with," I said, a little harsher than I'd intended.

"What?"

"It must be pretty irritating to worry about."

"No, that's not what I meant-"

"Well that's how it sounded."

"You're being ridiculous."

"Well sorry for being such a bother," I said, walking off and pulling out my phone to call my driver. I felt Kaoru grab my wrist and pulled me back.

"Izumi, wait-"

"Don't touch me," I said, wrenching my arm out of his grasp, and I caught a flash of the hurt, confused look on his face. I ignored him, and walked away, punching the speed dial on my phone a little harder than necessary.

"Yes, Ms. Shinju?"

"Hi Minoru; I need you to pick me up at," I looked around where I was. "By the Cup coffee shop."

"I'll be there momentarily, Miss."

"Thank you," I said, flipping my phone shut. I went to sit at one of the outside tables, putting my head in my hands and massaging my temples.

"Hey, you okay?" someone asked. I looked up to see a kid with short, spiky brown hair sitting a few tables away with a headphone in one ear. I gave a short, humorless laugh.

"No, not really."

"Do you wanna talk about it? Sometimes total strangers give the best advice," he said, sitting down next to me and pulling out his headphone.

"It's kind of ridiculous really," I started, surprised I felt so comfortable around him. "Well, I'm engaged and-"

"You're engaged? Aren't you a little young for that?" he said, looking a little scandalized.

"It was decided when I was born. My mom's best friend had had a son two years before, and they thought it would be nice if our families were joined."

"Let me guess: rich, high class, aristocracy; am I getting close?" I nodded. "You don't look like it," he said, gesturing at the sweater and sweat pants I was still wearing and I shrugged. "Anyway, that's stupid. Why should your mom get to make choices for your future? What gave her the right to decide how you live? Not to be offensive, but she sounds like a royal ass."

I couldn't believe he just said that. I started laughing.

"What?"

"No, you're right. I've never really voiced it myself but that's exactly it. I wish someone would've said it out loud sooner. That pretty much hits the nail on the head, but I never would have thought about it like that. Shall I continue with my pathetic little tale?" I asked, and he nodded with a smile. "Like I said, I'm engaged, but I've only recently met my fiancé, and to be honest, he isn't exactly what I thought he'd be; he's really sweet and nice, but he's pretty childish. I go to the school that he does now, and he's in this club and I met his friends. They were all really nice. Especially one of them. I guess one thing led to another, and he kissed me, and I kissed him back, and now I don't know what to do. And just now, he was talking about how his brother is lucky because he likes this girl and he can just be with her and be normal and not have to worry about all the crap we do, and I got mad, and he said I was being ridiculous when he's the one that started it, and, and, I was _pissed_, so I left." By this time, I'd gotten up and began pacing, which was a nervous habit. "I mean what the _hell_? _He's_ the one who kissed _me_ first. If he was so worried about it, he should have thought before he acted, right? If he hadn't done that, then everyone would be fine and happy." The guy gave a low whistle.

"You wouldn't be happy." I turned around from my pacing to face Hikaru.

"Can I help you, Hikaru?"

"Not really. You know he didn't mean it like that."

"Well then he shouldn't have _said_ it like that," I retorted, and saw my limo coming up the street.

"Look, I'm not very good at this, but he's my best friend, and I know he's yours-"

"Well maybe I should get a new best friend. Come on, new best friend." I grabbed the hand of the guy I'd been talking with, taking him into the lime with me.

"Izumi!" I could hear Hikaru yelling and pounding on the windows, but I ignored him.

"That was a little intense. Who's that?" the guy asked, and I realized I didn't even know his name.

"That's his brother, Hikaru. Of course he couldn't come talk to me, himself," I said, mumbling the last part to myself.

"Well, as your new best friend, I'm Tsuneo."

"Izumi Shinju," I replied, leaning back against the seat, trying to just relax.

"So where am I being kidnapped to?" he asked.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I don't know what I was thinking. Just tell the driver where you live and he'll take us there." He leaned up and talked to the driver, and he turned and began heading to wherever he told him to.

"Well, considering the guy sent his brother, the way this is sounding to me, is this guy is either currently freaking out and worrying about you, or he was just scared of being rejected." I mulled over what he said for a moment. What if he _was_ worrying? Or scared? I hadn't exactly taken it very easy on him. I'd just up and left. "That or he was scared of what would happen if he broke up with you himself."

"What did you say?"

"Well, it doesn't sound like you gave him much of a chance to explain, and may have been a bit of an ass. He may be just as pissed as you are," Tsuneo said with a shrug.

"You aren't exactly helping."

"Then help yourself. Talk to the guy," he said with a neutral face. "Maybe he'll forgive you." I froze for a moment. I felt the car pull to a stop. "Here," Tsuneo grabbed my phone which was next to me on the seat. He quickly typed for a moment then tossed it back. "See ya." He climbed out and closed the door, leaving me alone.

"Where to, Miss?" Minoru asked from the driver's seat. I looked around and realized we were still close to Haruhi's apartment.

"Um, I'll be right back."

"Miss?"

"Just stay here for a second. I'll be back soon," I said, and got out and ran. I had to get there before they left. I rounded the corner and saw the limo starting to pull out. As I ran closer it skidded to a stop. I reached it right as Kaoru jumped out and practically threw myself at him, and I felt the tears streaming down my face.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" he asked, stroking my hair.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" I sobbed against him. I felt like a terrible person, and I was. I'd hurt him just because I wouldn't stop to think for a moment. I was practically turning into my mother.

"Sorry? Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong. I was being stupid," he said, and kissed the top of my head. It made me cry even more.

"No, you weren't. I wasn't thinking, and all I did was be an ass."

"'Be an ass?' Since when you use the word 'ass?'" he said, smiling at me.

"Tsuneo is rubbing off on me," I mumbled to myself.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, I just talked to this guy, and he called my mom and I asses. In a nice way though."

"How do you call someone an ass in a nice way?"

"It's a long story," I told him with a smile.

"How about we promise we'll never argue like that again?" he suggested, and I nodded.

"I like that idea."

"Good. Because that wasn't very fun at all," he said, then leaned down and kissed me in the way that made me breathless. "So we're okay?"

"Better than okay," I said, feeling my cheeks turn pink, and Kaoru just smiled at me. Then he frowned a little.

"You probably have to get home soon, huh?"

"Yeah, my mom's going to be pretty mad as is. Better to not keep her waiting," I said, mirroring his frown. Kaoru just gave me a small smile and pecked me on the cheek.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Definitely," I said, leaving and heading back towards my limo.

I managed to not run into my mom when I got home, and headed up to my room, and glanced at the clock. It was only almost six, but I was exhausted. I pulled on shorts and a tank-top, reminding myself that I needed to give Haruhi her clothes back. I climbed in under my covers, and I laid there, and waited.

I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. I was still super tired and yawning like crazy, but I could _not_ sleep. I tried every semi-comfortable position I could think of, and nothing. I heard a quiet knock, and sighed.

"Come on in."

"Hi. I heard you come in earlier and I made you some tea," Taro said, walking in with a teacup on a little saucer. "It's green tea with a little spearmint and some lavender in it to help you sleep; my aunt's recipe."

"How'd you know I wanted to sleep?" I asked, taking a sip from the still steaming cup.

"I could hear you practically dragging yourself up the stairs," Taro said with a smile, while absentmindedly adjusting my covers.

"Thanks, Taro. This is really good; my compliments to you and your aunt. Do you know what time it is?"

"About six-forty-five. Do you want me to tell your mom you aren't feeling good and bring some dinner up to you?"

"Please and thank you," I said as Taro took the empty cup and saucer. "You know you're the best right?"

"Of course I do. Who doesn't know?" he said, with a smile as he left.

Feeling a little better, I laid down again, hoping to actually be able to relax this time. Taro came in again and left the food on my nightstand. I took a bite of the pasta, and it was orecchiette with mozzarella, chickpeas, and basil, and it was really good. I realized how hungry I was and ate all of it in a way that would have made my mother either cringe or turn red with anger. Probably both. When I was full, I collapsed back into bed, falling into a not very restful sleep.

_It was dark outside; like, unnaturally dark. The only light was a few dim stars and a streetlamp. I walked along the wet cobblestone street towards the light, not wanting to be in the dark anymore. It felt oppressive, and unhappy, and lonely, being in the dark. The closer to the light I got, the more hopeful I felt._

_ "Think before you leave, Izumi-chan." I turned around at Mitsukuni's voice. "You may not be happy yet, but you could be."_

_ "Or we could be happy." I turned back towards the streetlamp at Kaoru's voice. "Life may not be as easy with your family all mad at you, but we could do it. I know we could."_

I was shaken out of my dream by a tapping on my window. _Oh my god…_

"Izumi! Come on! It's cold out here!" I could hear Kaoru's voice from outside. I looked at the clock, and it was twelve-oh-four. I went out to the balcony and tossed down the rope ladder that I'd hidden in a plant since the last time he'd snuck up.

"What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night!" I said as he climbed up.

"I said I'd see you tomorrow. Technically, this is tomorrow," he said, giving me his Host-smile. I shoved him a little when he got up over the railing.

"Oh, don't give me that. I'm tired. What do you want?" I said, my point accented by a yawn, as I walked back into my room to get out of the outside chill. I finally bothered to actually take a look at Kaoru when we got in. "Why do you not have a shirt on?"

"Well, I was asleep, but then I woke up, and I needed to see you. I guess I didn't think about that. Besides, it's not like you're all covered up either," he said, gesturing at the tank top and short shorts I'd been wearing as PJ's. I shrugged, falling backwards onto my bed. I heard Kaoru say something, but I couldn't make out what it was.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, flopping down next to me, and played with my hair.

"Having fun?" I asked with a smile.

"Yeah. Are you having fun?" he asked in a flirtatious tone.

"Maybe."

"How about now?" he asked, kissing me on the cheek.

"Eh," I said with a shrug, trying not to smile. He trailed a finger along my jaw line, gently turning my face towards his. I could feel my heart pounding.

"How about now?" He leaned in, kissing me in a way that it felt like he was almost taunting me, only giving it half effort. I rolled over so I was fully facing him and could make up for the effort he wasn't putting in. His hand slid to the small of my back, pulling me forward and fitting me against him. "So is this fun?" he asked, pulling away for a moment.

"Yes it is," I said smiling at him and just enjoying laying here. Then I began thinking about the dream. "You really shouldn't be here; it's late. Be a good boy and go home or something," I said, giving him a little shove.

"What if I don't want to be a good boy?"

"Well then you should be. Shoo," I said getting up and trying to pull him up but he was being a dead weight. "You're not being very helpful," I told him, pouting at him, making him smile.

"You're cute when you do that," he said, finally getting up.

"Thanks, but that's not working; you still need to go home."

"I guess you're right," he said with a sheepish smile, and quickly pecked me on the cheek. "See ya tomorrow?"

"Preferably after nine, yes," I said, smiling at him as he climbed down the ladder. I pulled it back up after he left, and headed back inside.

I felt a little bad for just sending him away, but I really couldn't deal with this at the moment. It was a bit of a case of wrong place, wrong time. I already felt bad enough most of the time whenever I thought about him and Mitsukuni, but that dream was just too weird.

**Hey people! Do you like it? Please review! Reviews make me happy which makes me write faster, even if they're negative, because then I need to prove said negative reviews wrong. So DO IT ALREADY! And by the way, I made a tumblr account for my writing; there's a link on my profile, so check it out! I'll add how I'm doing on chapters, any new ideas I'm having, and things of that sort, so follow me, or you know, don't. Whatever's your cup of tea. ~Stormy:3**


	8. It's a Date

Thank goodness for Sundays. Sleep is a very good thing. I heard my phone buzz, and groaned as I reached over and grabbed it. Mornings, on the other hand, are not a very good thing. I looked at my phone; it was a text from Kaoru. _It's still too early; even for this._

**Text me when u get up.**

**I'm up. Who died?** I sent back.

**I'll ignore that. I was wondering if u wanted to go on a date. Like an actual date ;)** I was now wide awake.

**Definitely! Where are we headed?**

** Its a secret!** He sent back, and I inwardly groaned.

**Fine. Casual or classy?**

** Somewhere in-between. I'll be over in the evening. Say 8ish?**

** Sure :)**

In short, I spent the rest of the day in anticipation. I managed to avoid my mother all day (it was a great day) and normally, time goes slow when you're waiting, but the day zoomed by. It was seven before I knew it.

I hopped up and quickly ran toward the shower. After finishing, I blow dried my hair and quickly raided my closet. I found a nice long sleeved, black, V-neck and a flowy purple skirt and quickly put them on. I opted out on make-up, mostly because I was being lazy but also because I doubted Kaoru would care. I had about five minutes to spare, so I headed downstairs to wait.

I almost ran into my mother halfway there, but I quickly ducked into a closet, and she continued on her way. I sat by on a loveseat which was placed near the door, and I didn't have to wait long. I quickly opened the door and slipped outside before any servants came to answer it.

"Hi," I said, closing the door behind me.

"Hey," he said, leaning down to kiss me. I blocked him with a hand, and he raised an eyebrow.

"You might want to wait until we're out of sight of my house," I said, and he nodded, and we walked toward his waiting limo. We climbed in and the driver pulled away, apparently already knowing where to go. Something felt a little off. "So am I going to be informed of what this surprise is yet?"

"Nope," he answered with a grin as he kissed me on the cheek, and I looked at him. Like actually looked at him.

"Your head must kind of hurt."

"Huh?" he looked lost.

"Switching your part like that and forcing your hair in the opposite direction. I've done that before, and it always hurts for a while, _Hikaru._"

"Heh, hi," he said with a smile.

"May I ask what exactly is going on?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Kaoru told me you'd figure it out. But I'm not allowed to say anything," he said, leaning back in his seat with his hands behind his head.

"Could you guys not just do things the easy way?"

"Nope."

"You two are ridiculous," I said with a small smile.

"We know," he said, returning the smile.

We arrived at their house a few minutes later and Hikaru led me through it. I'd never been to their house before so I tried to remember as much as I could.

"Wait here," Hikaru instructed when we were almost at the end of a hallway. He walked down the rest of it and turned left. I waited. Everything was quiet which was weird; in a house with the twins in it, I could never picture it being quiet. Hikaru returned a moment later with a smile. "Come on." I followed him the direction he had left. We reached a larger room which had a pair of French doors with curtains covering the glass from the outside. "Ready?"

"Yes." I was a quarter nervous, and three-quarters excited. Hikaru pulled open both of the doors and my jaw dropped. There was a large patio outside that had been decorated with lots of twinkling lights and lots of flowers that smelled great. Kaoru was standing in front of a table and I couldn't really see what was on it. I stepped out and realized I could see my shadow in front of me. I turned and saw what looked like the Eiffel Tower made of white lights. My hands went over my mouth and I was grinning a _lot_.

"Oh my _god…_" I whispered to myself. This was amazing. I turned to Kaoru and he was smiling and walking over to me. He had a nice light purple button up shirt with a black vest and slacks. I noticed my skirt and his vest matched. "Oh my _god_. This is amazing. I can't believe you did this."

"Well why wouldn't I?" he said with a smile, kissing me on the same cheek Hikaru had.

"You just secondhand kissed your brother." He raised an eyebrow at Hikaru- who had been peeking through a crack in the door- and he quickly disappeared. Smart choice.

"Well, are you hungry?" I looked at the table behind him and realized it was a fondue pot. "It's French fondue savoyarde. I figured it would go with the whole Eiffel Tower thing," he said with a shrug like it was no big deal, but I could tell he was excited about the whole thing. There were two long forks lying next to an assortment of foods, so I chose one at random. I dipped it in and held it up near Kaoru's face.

"How is it?" I asked as he bit it off.

"You tell me," he said holding his up to me. It tasted great. "I also decided on our entertainment for the evening," he said with a flourish of a hand, gesturing to what I hadn't noticed before. It was a large white bed sheet hung up with a loveseat in front of it and a projector in between. Dinner _and _a movie. "What is a French meal without a French movie?"

"Just a French meal?' I answered and he rolled his eyes at me. I speared a piece of bread and barely managed to dip it in the cheese before Kaoru tugged me over toward the loveseat and pulled me down with him. He pressed a button on a remote and started the movie. I hardly paid any mind to the movie, much less the subtitles as I sat there, feeling safe and relaxed in his arms.

I'd been feeling a little stressed lately; some of it being the usual stress that comes with life, the rest being thinking about Mitsukuni and Kaoru so often. I felt like a liar, and I was. I felt like a cheater, which I most definitely was. But I mostly felt like a betrayer, which there was no doubt about.

"You okay?" Kaoru asked, pausing the movie. "You're getting that look on your face like you're thinking about something."

"Oh, I'm fine," I answered with a smile. I didn't want to ruin the mood with the somber topic. "You don't need to worry about it."

He gave me a small smile. "Okay." He kissed my forehead then started the movie again. I didn't like lying to him, but he didn't need to worry about this. Not yet anyway.

**Hey, I want your guys' opinion on something; I'm thinking about making a side story for Keiichi. I don't know if it would technically be called a sequel, so I'm just calling it a side story. It would just kind of be about his life, what he's got going on, because lately I've had some **_**major feels**_** going in his direction, and I don't really understand why, but I do. Opinions anyone? I would be doing it after I finish this because I just don't have anywhere near the time of day to do it now. Sorry **** on a side note, when I typed this up, for the **_**longest**_** time, instead of, "button up shirt," it said, "Button up shit." XD I didn't even notice because 'shit' is in my Word's dictionary and I hadn't even thought about it! Thank god for my semi-obsessive editing.**

**On another side note, I'm really sorry for taking so long. Life has been complicated and there's just some stuff that I'd rather not delve into. My mind has been in a fog and things just haven't been very good, and I apologize. Luckily, I hope to be updating more often soon. I felt like I should at least give you something, even if it is just short, cute, little fluff.**


End file.
